A battle has been brewing between end users and corporate IT ever since the release of the iPhone. End Users want to access corporate applications and data from their iPhone; and IT Management and Security has fought them every step of the way. The Consumerization of IT Recent IT market research studies have found that the broad popularity of the iPhone, Android phones, and iPad have created a new phenomena at the office; “BYOD” or Bring your own Device. Users are buying one of the many new (non corporate standard) mobile devices themselves (iPhones, Androids, iPads, etc.), and then assuming that IT will “hook them up” with the corporate network. IT was able to resist the growing trend, often called the “Consumerization of IT”, until the release of the iPad. The iPad proved to be the tipping point for IT.

The iPad’s power came from the fact that senior executives were early adopters. And, there is no greater motivation for an IT Manager, than having the CEO unhappy that he can’t get his email or check his corporate dashboard on his brand new iPad. As an example, recently the CEO of a major company bought 500 iPads for his senior managers; without giving the IT department any advanced warning. Included within the growing role of mobility and consumerization; is the trend toward users having a single mobile device that includes both their corporate information and their personal information. This mingling of personal and business lives only increases the risk for data loss. You can easily imagine an employee accidentally posting a business document to their Facebook page, or cc’ing their friends with a corporate email.

Role of the Cloud The pressure on IT management to incorporate a full spectrum of mobile devices will only increase over the next few years. According to Gartner, 90% of companies will support corporate applications on personal mobile devices by 2014, and 80% of companies will have a mobile workforce armed with tablets. SaaS has proved to be both an ally and an enemy to IT in managing mobile security. Because corporate applications are moving to the cloud, it has become much easier for users to access these applications from their mobile device. At the same time; this broader access also opens new security vulnerabilities. Making it increasingly difficult for IT Security to guard against both intruders and accidental or malicious data loss. While this drive for mobility is not new, IT market research surveys have shown that most organizations do not have a formal strategy for dealing with the proliferation of user devices. However, the demands of Corporate and IT Compliance are quickly forcing organizations to face up to this new reality and develop sophisticated policies and procedures for adapting to a mobile world.