Every day, I read several tech blogs, newsletters, and IT industry publications and I would estimate that 90% of them are talking about “the cloud” in some capacity. Many of them are pretty standard and sound about the same as articles from 2-3 years ago; what is the cloud, who is using it, who is running it, etc. However, one topic that seems to still keep coming up as an issue is security in the cloud, especially with the advances mobile computing has made in the business world.
Nowadays, mobile technology has blurred the line between personal and professional and many fear how this affects a business’ security by allowing employees to use personal mobile devices to access business information (via the cloud). If you walk into just about any office today, chances are that you will see smart phones and tablets galore, many of which are property of the employee; however, a lot of them use those devices at home, after hours, etc to conduct business. According to a recent study by IDC, the mobile workforce in the US is forecast to be nearly 120 million strong, accounting for over 75% of the workforce. This begs the question, “Will this new ‘deskless’ technology compromise security for your business?”
This mobile empowerment certainly can be very productive (and appears to be the way of the future), but balancing this with security risks can be a tricky act. What if your employee loses their laptop, iPhone, or tablet and thus potentially leaves your business data vulnerable? Is your employee using this device in non-secure environments or viewing unsafe websites? Or, what if your employee quits working for you? If your employees are using these mobile devices for personal and professional use, what are you doing to ensure that your business data and intellectual property is protected? Fortunately, there are tools and strategies that can help, and it’s increasingly becoming a priority for SMBs and IT providers every day.
If you’d like to learn more about how your business can safely and securely “cut the cord” and use “deskless” technology, let me know! You can also download our recent webinar, “Free Your Desktop”, which will touch on this topic and give you a better understanding of practical ways to use the cloud and mobile technology without increasing risk. Anyone who attended can sign up with our expert tech audit team and learn how your business can benefit from virtualization technologies, cloud services and hosted applications – and best of all, it’s free!
Ryan Montague
Sr. Marketing Manager
rmontague@launchpadonline.com
