Mobility Is Challenging IT Departments

As mobile devices and applications extend the boundaries of the workplace, IT departments must create new policies and procedures to keep the mobile enterprise accessible, available and secure, according to new research from CompTIA. 

While PCs continue to be a major part of the corporate IT landscape, CompTIA’s new study, “Trends in Enterprise Mobility,” reveals that laptops, ultrabooks, smartphones and tablets increasingly are essential to day-to-day business.

The CompTIA study also finds that 84 percent of those surveyed use their smartphone for light work such as email or Web browsing. Individuals using tablets have an even wider range of uses, including note-taking, giving presentations and using their tablet as a communications device in lieu of a phone.

As a result, IT departments are building new policies governing behavior in a mobile environment; and implementing support structures and applications.

“Currently, the primary motivation for a business to adopt a mobility strategy is to enable a mobile workforce and ensure smooth operations,” said Seth Robinson, director of technology analysis for CompTIA. “However, the ability to connect to customers in a mobile environment is increasingly important. So any mobility strategy must address the needs of two different groups with distinct needs and requirements.”

Only 22 percent of companies in the CompTIA survey have a formal mobility policy in place. Another 20 percent were building policies at the time of the survey in November 2011. Meanwhile, security considerations are the greatest risk involved in supporting mobility, at least in the view of 70 percent of IT staff surveyed for the CompTIA study. Among the challenges they face:

• Downloading unauthorized apps, cited as a serious concern by 48 percent of respondents
• Lost or stolen devices (42 percent)
• Mobile-specific viruses and malware (41 percent)
• Open Wi-Fi networks (41 percent)
• USB flash drives (40 percent)
• Personal use of business devices (40 percent)

These types of incidents and others have prompted organizations to take various security measures including requiring passcodes, installing tracking software and encrypting data on the device. But that’s not enough. Robinson said organizations must give serious thought to their mobility policies.

“Issues such as mobile device management and mobile security are really in the beginning stages,” he said. “Mobile strategies also involve considerations such as mobile-optimized applications and the supporting infrastructure. Are you going to allow employees to bring their own mobile devices into the workplace? Which devices will you support? Organizations will have to strike a balance between business objectives and security objectives, which may not always be in synch.”