BYOD: enabling the chaos

Abstract

Trends such as the influx of consumer devices into the workplace will require more flexible and creative solutions from IT staff in order to maintain security while enabling access to collaborative technologies. Trends such as the influx of consumer devices into the workplace will require more flexible and creative solutions from IT staff for maintaining security while enabling access to collaborative technologies. Given the desire of workers to bring the devices they use at home into the workplace, enterprises need to adopt a ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) vision – that is, securing the network and data regardless of how workers access information. Given the desire of workers to bring the devices they use at home into the workplace, enterprises need to adopt a ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) vision – that is, securing the network and data regardless of how workers access information. Today's IT departments need to enable the chaos that comes from a BYOD environment. This doesn't mean accepting high levels of risk, but it does mean the security department cannot act as the barrier to business transformation, says Gordon Thomson, Cisco Security EMEA.