Mobile devices have significant impact on a company’s security

According to Garth Hayward, Kaseya’s regional manager for Africa, the mobile revolution, which has been largely sparked by the increase in use of mobile tablets over the last few years, has had a dramatic effect on IT service management.

Gartner statistics have been showing sluggish PC shipments on a global scale since the mass uptake of tablets in 2010/2011. The most recent stats show that global PC shipments will hit 368 million in 2012, which is just a 4.4% gain from last year. In 2011, shipments totalled 352.8 million units, which was just a half a percentage point gain over 2010.

“There are two different approaches that companies typically take with regards to mobile device integration,” says Hayward. “In one instance, companies make devices available to employees that have already been modified and adapted according to corporate policies. These are managed by a platform, such as Kaseya, to give the IT professional a view of all the devices from a single screen. This approach is the most widely used in Africa,” he says.

The second instance, explains Hayward, is when employees are allowed to use their own private devices, as in the bring your own device (BYOD) concept, for business use.

The approach is, however, open to a few challenges that a device-issuing approach does not have.

Kaseya’s Mobile Device Management module is uniquely positioned to quickly and easily assist organisations in addressing the proliferation of the BYOD trend invading the corporate network.

Although Kaseya does not dictate policies, it does provide a framework on how these devices can be managed. The Kaseya Mobile Device Management module is part of an integrated and automated IT system management (ITSM) solution that handles the inherent mobile device challenges of e-mail configuration, back-up, asset visibility, and security, for IT professionals in corporate or managed service environments.

“The sweeping popularity of Apple’s iPad and iPhone, as well as the Android-based tablets and smartphones, has blurred the lines between personal and corporate devices in organisations globally,” says Hayward.

In their review of mobile device management point solutions, many IT professionals now realise the limitations of point solutions or manual procedures in handling all the security and support challenges in a distinct and separate environment versus a unified and integrated ITSM approach for ease of use in full device management.

“With our new Kaseya Mobile Device Management, global IT staff can extend the ITSM benefits to all end points including Blackberry, Apple and iOS smart devices to reduce the cost and effort of manual remediation while enabling security and policy compliance,” says Hayward.

Kaseya has recently introduced a survey, in collaboration with ITWeb, to gauge what is at the front of mind of IT executives when it comes to mobile management. Now in its second year, the 2012 survey aims to reveal how the business needs have changed in the last year with regards to mobile management.

The survey aims to discover:
1) What percentage of SA’s workforce uses mobile devices for business use.
2) What about the use of mobile devices for business concerns organisations the most.
3) What measures are being taken by organisations to ensure that business data on mobile devices remains secure.