Mobiles Devices: A Love/Hate Relationship For Businesses

Mobile devices in the workplace are a complex conundrum that many organizations don’t know how to face properly. On one hand, they allow workers to stay ahead of their schedules, and let them stay productive even when they’re not in the office. On the other hand, they present a serious security risk that needs to be addressed. How does your business handle mobile devices in the workplace?

While there are plenty of risks involved with using mobile devices in the workplace, this shouldn’t dissuade you from trying to take advantage of a technology that can help your organization achieve greater productivity. Here are three ways your business can protect its data while still taking advantage of mobile devices in the workplace.

Virtual Private Networks
Employees often need to access sensitive information while on the move, and this can be a problem if there aren’t relatively secure WiFi connections available. Any normal motel connection could be compromised by a skilled hacker, so it’s a best practice to outfit mobile devices with access to a virtual private network that it can be connected to, even while out of the office. This mitigates the chances that a mobile device accidentally gives away any important information.

Remote Device Wiping
If you’re allowing employees to use their own mobile devices in the workplace, you have to consider the ramifications of losing these devices, or having them be stolen. Smartphones are fairly hot targets for thieves simply because of how compact they are, and because they often hold sensitive information and access to accounts like email. Hackers will go to great lengths to steal information from mobile devices, even so far as physically stealing your device if they can get their hands on it. If you have the power to remotely wipe your company’s mobile devices, you can get rid of any data on lost or stolen devices before hackers steal it.

Whitelist and Blacklist Applications
If your employees are using smartphones to get more work done outside the office, they’ll naturally be using certain applications that help them complete their workload. However, they might also download apps that aren’t used for work, like games, social media apps, and more. The issue therein is the possibility that malicious applications, or those that could hurt your business’s reputation, gain access to your sensitive data. Apps ask for permission to access this information, and if the user agrees to terms that are absolutely ridiculous (like a flashlight app asking for your physical location), chances are that there’s something fishy going on. You want the ability to limit which applications have permission to access important data.

Macro Systems can equip your business with a comprehensive mobile device management solution that allows you to get maximum productivity out of your mobile devices, without compromising the integrity of your data infrastructure. Give us a call at (703) 359-9211 to learn more.