Tag Archives: BYOD

Does BYOD Have Real Value For Business?

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By Ian Callens from IT service, support and solutions provider Icomm Technologies

 

It’s great that so many businesses are embracing new technology and looking for new ways to engage their workforce.  Indeed industry research shows 81% of companies now accommodate personal devices in the office, whilst 54% have formalised ‘bring you own device’ (BYOD) policies.

BYOD is clearly here to stay and this is being driven by perceived business rewards of a more flexible, mobile and agile workforce driven by the workforce.  However, BYOD is a subject trying to force a wedge between finance and IT, where finance sees cost benefits and IT views the enormous security, support and implementation issues.  Continue reading →

Creating IT Heroes

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By Nathan Pearce, F5’s Senior Technical Marketing Manager

As an IT professional, technology evolution can be a blessing and a curse.

The constant conveyor belt of new products mean you have potentially a huge arsenal of tools at your disposal. But the demands of the business and the difficulties of where to place your technology bets means you’re constantly facing difficult decisions.

At the moment, we’re experiencing the most accelerated pace of IT change we’ve ever known. Cloud computing, big data / analytics, mobile and social are transforming the way we work and the way our businesses operate.

Yet, there remains a sentiment in some quarters that the IT department has lost influence in the business in recent years, is unreliable or is a barrier to progress, lacking the necessary knowledge to tackle and implement new solutions and infrastructures efficiently. Continue reading →

How do you make staff more productive?

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By Phil Jones, UK Country head, Brother UK

 

How about asking them not to come in to the office on a Friday? What about offering flexible working hours?

It may seem counter intuitive to ask employees to spend fewer hours in the office; however a flexible working culture can actually increase productivity as well as reduce costs.

Business is increasingly taking place wherever and whenever, and so the norm of 9-5 office hours is fast becoming an outdated concept. The global mobile workforce, which is set to hit 1.3bn in 2015,* is growing rapidly as both employees and employers recognise the benefits. Continue reading →

The balance between security and allowing employees to bring their own devices

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By Roee Adler, Chief Product Officer, Soluto

If you’re an IT professional in a small business, or even a corporation, you’re definitely seeing more and more employees using their own smartphones, tablets or laptops for work. According to recent studies, more than 80% of employees use at least one personal device for business use.

Although the issue of workers bringing their own devices isn’t new, it’s actually part of two bigger changes that started taking place in the technology within the past few years. One of these changes is the arrival and adoption of cloud computing and the transition of more and more company infrastructures and services to the cloud. The second change is mobility and the complete evolution of mobile devices. Tablets and smartphones have caused huge changes in the way people work with computers. Continue reading →

BYOD 2.0: Moving beyond MDM

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By Joakim Sundberg, F5 Security Solution Architect

 

While it seems like the industry has been talking about it for years, a recent report by Forrester warned that BYOD uptake has only just begun.

It’s true the concept started to be discussed by corporates back in 2007 when business executives began demanding access to corporate resources on their shiny new iPhones. But Forrester’s right in that it’s only now that large numbers of organisations are starting to implement BYOD initiatives. And this increase is largely driven by the rise of cloud apps we can access on our mobile devices, and the influence they’re having on the way we work. Continue reading →

The pros and cons of adopting a ‘work anywhere’ approach to business computing

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By Dean Guida, President and Chief Executive Officer, Infragistics

There is much talk about the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) movement, but what does it really take to embrace the mobile revolution? Businesses need to weigh up the benefits of increased productivity and job satisfaction versus the resources required to manage a mountain of tablets, not to mention the security risk of employees accessing sensitive corporate information on their own devices.

Tablets are quite rightly considered to be extremely convenient for the user and they do foster a ‘work anywhere’ ecosystem. The flexibility and portability of a tablet empowers employees to take their work on-the-go and fit it into a changing workweek, where clocking 9-to-5 hours is less important than productivity. Continue reading →

BYOD: Harnessing employee-led innovation

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By  Justin Woolen, product sales specialist at Cisco. and guest speaker at the e-Crime Wales Summit in Llandudno

 

For some time now IT managers and IT decision-makers have come under increasing pressure to enable the use of personal devices in the work environment. In just a short period of time ‘bring your own device’ has become common business parlance. But for businesses, simply allowing access of personal devices isn’t the answer.

To ensure success it’s a question of enabling relevant, secure access across the entire network, while protecting corporate assets and delivering an optimal user experience. However, there are quantifiable benefits associated with allowing employees to use their own mobile devices on their employers’ networks. This article will explore the challenges faced when enabling BYOD and explain how to overcome these challenges and enable BYOD effectively. Continue reading →

Why Yahoo! is banning home working

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By David Sturges, Chief Operating Officer, WorkPlaceLive

 

The news that the chief executive of Yahoo! Marissa Mayer has banned executives from working from home is bound to go down like a lead balloon. She has been accused of taking the company back to the 1980s. Richard Branson has been drawn into the debate who commented that Ms Mayer’s pronouncement was ‘perplexing’ and ‘backwards ’in today’s mobile work environment. Continue reading →

Business-to-employee apps: revolutionising the way that organisations operate

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By Tim Clapham, director at Planon

The borders between business and personal lives are continuing to blur, with employees increasingly searching for a seamless integration between their personal life and their work life. As a result, it is estimated that 65% of employees now use their own smartphone devices in the workplace.

To benefit from this ‘bring-your-own-device’ (BYOD) phenomenon, businesses are now looking to provide their employees with smartphone-enabled tools that can help to improve the efficiency of their day-to-day work routine, whilst also making sure that the organisation is utilising its own resources effectively. Continue reading →

Flexible working – a serious business benefit

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By Peter Boucher, Commercial Marketing Director, Vodafone UK

With the practice of flexible working very much back in the news, there is obviously still some debate about the benefits of flexible working. For some, the practice is mistakenly seen as an excuse for employees to stay at home and avoid work, which reduces output and ultimately cost businesses money.

However, for so many companies, creating a more flexible workforce and office environment can make for a leaner, more agile business, which, at a time of economic uncertainty can mean the difference between struggling and succeeding. Continue reading →