Accessing company data from your personal device?

The world has changed. Coronavirus has forced people to work from home (WFH) and this has become permanent. A survey carried out by global workplace analytics revealed 68% “are very successful working from home”, with evidence like this WFH is here to stay.

According to a report compiled by Forbes, there is as much use of BYOD. As devices provided by the organisation.

During the research, it was also discovered.

• 61% of Gen Y and 50% of 30+ workers believe the tech tools they use in their personal lives. Are more effective and productive than those used in their work life. (Dell)
• 60% use a smartphone for work purposes while 31% desire one (Dell)
• Companies favouring BYOD make an annual saving of $350 per year, per employee (Cisco)
• Using portable devices for work tasks saves employees 58 minutes per day. While increasing productivity by 34%. (Frost & Sullivan)
• About 67% of workers are using BYOD to delivery work for the business.
  
  

None of these stats should come as a surprise.

Personal computers are now capable of running business applications. People want the convenience of one device for personal and work. and most are happier working on their own device. Now working from home is becoming the norm.

We see organisations go to great lengths to protect their data.

In the rush caused by the pandemic, organisations have been left with no choice. Staff where sent packing. If lucky they had access to a company computer. but a lot have been asked to work from home on their own personal devices.

Let’s take the average user in an SME. They come to work and ask for access to company email and shared files from there phone or tablet. This will help them to be more productive. Of course, this also helps the company. no cost to buy hardware, support or maintain the device. A win, win you might think. But I urge you to think again.

The risk to all those taking this approach. without putting in the necessary controls is the loss of visibility. you cannot protect that you cannot see. Unacceptable vulnerability is when a personal device is used to access company data without any visibility.  This doesn’t mean that we cant still give our teams access to company data from their personal device if just means that precautions need to be put in place, much like the ones in place for your corporately owned devices.

below are 2 options organizations can take to give employees safe access to company data while working remotely.

Option 1. 

The organisation takes full control of the device. But this presents issues. The user will no longer be able to download new apps un unsolicited applications, give the kids access to their games. It’s not worth it. So what other options are there?

Option 2. 

Intune and the right consultancy. By applying the right policies to devices. installing applications with controls gives visibility to company data. It does not remove any of the access or control from the owner.

To help explain options 2. An example. I imagine you use MS Outlook for email. and at present, if you want to copy information from the email to your desktop or another application you can do so. But with controlled applications that can be implemented using intune, this would not be possible. this means that data that belongs to an organisation will always remain in the control of the organization even when using your own personal device.

What does the future hold? could we be heading to a future of full BYOD and the company subsidising the employee?

Will you be using your own personal devices to work? Intune offers many more features to aid cybersecurity. If you want to save money, make your team more effective and happier call us and get a free consultancy.

Want to learn how more on how you can protect your business from hacking attacks and improve your cybersecurity? Call, email or submit your details below and let's have a talk. Lets see how your business can become the best!