By Ali Din, dinCloud
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is hot buzzword in technology circles lately. It’s even gone through a refinement, as more mature IT shops switch to CYOD (Choose Your Own Device). Regardless of the acronym, it’s really is about mobility.
Today’s typical workforce is more mobile (perhaps those at Yahoo and HP are going to be office-based for the foreseeable future) as businesses try to recruit the best, talent regardless of geography. Additionally, customers are requiring businesses to be available around the clock – anytime, anywhere.
But, mobility isn’t as easy as simply buying a “mobile” device. Make sure you have a plan to enable the highest level of productivity and balancing security (and compliance, if appropriate).
- Establish the objective for mobility-enablement
- Define which devices are “acceptable”
- Set security guidelines around apps and data
- Establish enforcement of acceptable devices and security parameters
- Train users on how to be productive, yet safe
- Roll it out formally
Mobility will enable your company to be more responsive to customers – whether it’s from a virtual (home) office, on the road, or a desk.
Make sure your acceptable devices are truly usable in the field. Having a cool device for email is nice, but being able to work on a moment’s notice on a full-fledged work environment is a lot more productive. You can even get rid of that email tagline, “pardon typos, sent from my mobile device”.
Another trend tied to mobility and gaining more steam is desktop virtualization. This initiative can challenge even the largest and most sophisticated IT shops, but there is a turn-key solution – hosted virtual desktops (HVDs). You benefit from a virtual desktop that offers a personalized desktop across multiple devices. That way the apps and data do not have to be replicated and you do not have to figure out a separate cloud storage strategy.
As you look into how to enable your mobile workforce, remember to plan, and start that plan with setting objectives.
Ali Din is a marketing consultant for dinCloud, a cloud services provider that helps organizations rapidly migrate their IT infrastructure to the cloud. Visit dinCloud on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/dincloud.
