BYOD 2.0

“BYOD 2.0: Addressing Employee Privacy and Enterprise Security” (Wired)

In light of the growing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend, companies first focused their attention on maintaining data and network security.  As BYOD continues to evolve, Wired notes that the enterprise must broaden its focus so that solutions not only provide security but also protect consumers’ privacy and preserve device usability.

Some existing BYOD mobile device management strategies involve allowing the administrator to remotely manage a device, collect personal data, or add/remove restrictions. There is a growing concern among employees regarding this level of access to their private information, and a solution needs to be developed so that employees don’t reject IT control and companies can still leverage the positive benefits of BYOD.

Now, many mobile device manufacturers are looking to create devices that are “Enterprise Ready” from the start—devices that a consumer not only wants to buy, but that can also be utilized in a work setting. 

One way to go about this is creating a dual-identity device with two separate operating systems — one for the consumer’s personal use and one for work purposes. This could provide a win-win situation that supports personal privacy while at the same time upholding enterprise data security.

Whether at the device or policy level, BYOD calls for evolving solutions to satisfy both companies and employees, and maximize the trend’s effectiveness in the enterprise.

If your company has a BYOD policy, how well does it balance privacy and security?  What are some other possible solutions that could help achieve that compromise?

Happy Birthday iPad!

On April 3, 2010, the first iPad was released.  After three years and more than 120 million units sold, there’s no doubt that the iPad has had a major influence on technology and culture worldwide.  In honor of the iPad’s birthday, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the ways that the iPad has transformed both the enterprise and consumer landscape.

One of the iPad’s biggest influences on the enterprise has been in helping drive the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend.  Consumerization has led to an increasing demand to use personal devices such as the iPad and iPhone in the workplace, with the benefits being increased productivity and lower costs.  It has now become a necessity for most companies to strategize a BYOD policy.

Since its release, the iPad has become an increasingly adopted tool among businesses, including almost all of the Fortune 500 companies.  Doctors use iPads to look up patients’ health records and lawyers can use them to access data and documents.  The iPad, along with the iPhone, made up 77 percent of enterprise device activations at the end of 2012 and the iPad itself is currently the top tablet in the enterprise. Forrester predicts that businesses will spend about $24 billion on iPads in the next 2 years. iPads have even made their way into the classroom to provide students with an enhanced and more engaging learning experience.  

iPads arguably contributed to the decline of netbooks and the rise of tablets. Netbooks became popular due to their affordability and mobility compared to standard laptops but also had small screens and low processing power.  Apple provided a more enjoyable mobile, light-computing experience in the iPad, which began to move many consumers away from netbooks and garnered interest in tablets.

The iPad has also played a role in digitalizing and updating traditional forms of information gathering.  iPads are being used to register or check in attendees at events.  At coffee shops and restaurants, customers are seeing them as alternative cash registers, or even as a replacement for traditional paper menus.

For Parallels Desktop for Mac users, the iPad also provides a way to access everything on their Macs on the go, including all virtualized operating systems.  Select Parallels Desktop, Preferences, Mobile and login to your Parallels Desktop account from your Mac.  Get the Parallels Mobile app in the iTunes store for your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch and login to access all of your Mac applications, Windows programs and files from anywhere via Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G.  Parallels Mobile works with Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac and later versions.

Even after three years, the iPad continues to be used in new and innovative ways.  Here are some other cool and useful ones we’ve found from over the years:

What are some other ways that the iPad has revolutionized the enterprise, or even just been used in a creative way?

Five Reasons to visit Parallels at Microsoft Management Summit 2013 on April 8 - 12

Parallels is known as the industry leader in making Windows and Mac work side-by-side, without rebooting. So what is Parallels doing sponsoring the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) in Las Vegas this year?  

Macs, iPads and iPhones are becoming more prevalent in businesses around the world. That means the need to run Windows business applications on Mac has become imperative and even more important. IT teams need to manage those Macs and iOS devices to secure and protect their networks in a way that utilizes as much of their existing tools, processes, and skills as possible.

1. 1.  Come see Parallels Management – Mac, part of the Parallels Management Suite for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM). This exciting new product is the quick and easy way to extend your existing SCCM 2007/2012 system, processes, and skills to fully manage and secure Macs and their virtual machines. See live demos, speak to product specialists and find out how you can get a trial going in your environment!

1. 2.  Be one of the first to see a world premiere preview of our Parallels Management – iOS product, which will extend SCCM 2007/2012 to manage iPads and iPhones.

1. 3.  Meet Parallels co-founder and VP of Engineering, Nick Dobrovolskiy, and get a rare personal opportunity to learn how Parallels Management Suite creates a comprehensive management tool for Macs, iPads and iPhones – all through one pane of glass via Microsoft SCCM 2007/2012.

1. 4.  Get an overview of Macs in the Enterprise, market trends around BYOD and a technical deep-dive and demonstration from our IT and Engineering teams during our breakout session on Thursday, April 11 at 2:45p.m (located in Banyan C - South Convention Center, 3rd Floor). This session will be hosted by Christopher McLaughlin-Brooks, CIO of Parallels. 

1. 5.  Visit the Parallels booth (Booth #523) at MMS for a chance to WIN one of three multi-seat, one-year subscriptions of Parallels Management Suite and Parallels Desktop for Mac Enterprise Edition which will be given away during the conference.

The Microsoft Management Summit brings together IT professionals from around the world to increase their technical expertise through deep hands-on training, best-practice sharing, and interaction with innovators in desktop, device, and datacenter management. We felt it only fitting to highlight our exciting new product at this event and give attendees an up-front look at just how easy it can be to use Microsoft System Center to manage Macs.

Spots are going quickly, so don’t forget to register for the Summit before it’s too late and join us for our session on “Managing your Macs, iPads and iPhones just like you manage your Windows PCs with System Center 2007/2012”, on Thursday, April 11 at 2:45pm (Banyan C - South Convention Center, 3rd Floor).

You can also follow Microsoft Management Summit conversations via Twitter using the hashtag #MMS2013.

We look forward to seeing you all in Las Vegas! In the meantime, hear what others are saying about the Parallels Management Suite for Microsoft SCCM below:

• "Parallels proven cross-platform capabilities make its new Parallels Management Suite for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager a promising solution for CIOs and IT managers who need to control their Macs and want to leverage their existing infrastructure management software." - Rob Young, IDC Research Manager, Client Device and IT Service Management Software

• “If your organization already has an investment and internal expertise on SCCM, an approach like the Parallels Management setup makes a lot of sense…” – Michael Rose of TUAW

• “The new Parallels Management plugin for the Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager will let companies manage the Macs on their network in the same way they manage Windows PCs. That includes detecting Macs on their corporate network and giving the IT staff full visibility into the machines, with the ability to deploy software and control and secure Macs in compliance with corporate policies.” – Todd Bishop of GeekWire

Featured News Story 3/29/13 : Issues To Keep In Mind When Blocking BYOD

“The perils of blocking BYOD” (SC Magazine)

Companies trying to block Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) may not be able to just leave it at that. If IT departments are unprepared, attempting to block BYOD can lead to other types of risks and problems.

For example, employees who are just looking for a way to access their company’s network with their personal device can bring about security issues that they might not even realize. 

If employees are not able to connect their personal devices to the company’s network legitimately, many will look for workarounds.  They may have no malicious intentions but their actions can cause network outages or security problems.

One way that employees may try to access the network is by using the credentials for their corporate devices on their personal devices.  Organizations will need to make sure to shift the focus of identity management towards device authentication rather than just user credentials. 

Another example of an issue that can arise when BYOD is blocked is rogue wireless.  Users that don’t have a LAN connection for their devices could try and connect rogue access points to the network, opening it up and increasing vulnerability. On top of that, if the LAN port is accessed rather than the WAN port, it can also result in a rogue DHCP server spitting out unroutable IP addresses.

For companies who choose to block BYOD, it will be important to consider and prepare for possible employee workarounds. 

Have you come across any other issues that arose from workarounds?

How Do You Organize Your Mobile Apps?

No one wants to have to spend more time than necessary digging through all of their mobile device apps, trying to find the one that they need right then.  Especially for those using their mobile devices in an enterprise environment, app clutter can be a major inconvenience.  Recently, Jimmy Obomsawin of Biztech Magazine shared his organizational strategy for managing his apps.

Jimmy’s method employs two screens: The first page includes the apps that he uses every day, listed individually.  The second page consists of folders of apps organized by function and listed in alphabetical order by folder name.  This strategy helps gain easier access to most-used apps and also prevents rarely used apps from getting lost in the crowd.

Jimmy’s article inspired us to include our own app organization method:

 

What organizational method works best for you and your apps?