360°IT Blog

The rise of "bring your own" IT

18 Jun 2010

From: 360°IT | Bryan Glick

The rise of

Last week, Computer Weekly and 360°IT co-hosted a round table debate of senior private and public sector IT leaders on the topic of flexible working. The meeting was conducted under the Chatham House Rule, so I can't name any names, but one government CTO let slip that some new ministers are complaining about being offered a standard-issue Blackberry for ministerial communications and asking why they can't use an iPhone instead.

It's an increasingly common problem for IT leaders. Tech-savvy users - especially (but not exclusively) the younger generation of workers - are frustrated by a perceived functionality gap between corporate IT and their personal technology. More and more, they are asking why they can't use their Macbook, iPhone, home laptop, etc, instead of the locked-down kit usually beloved of IT departments. A number of important points came out of the discussion that are worth highlighting.

Some delegates were eager to list the reasons why they could not meet such demands - in particular security and data protection. But others were more pragmatic. "We have kidded ourselves that the perimeter is a defence mechanism - it isn't," said one IT leader from a major multinational manufacturer. The government CTO mentioned above thought IT leaders should ask: "What are the Crown Jewels in our data? What do we actually need to protect? Is it really all sacrosanct?"

Smart IT chiefs are realising they need a different approach which accepts proliferation of users' own devices inside and outside the corporate firewall is inevitable. For example, another Whitehall IT manager said his CIO ultimately wants to eliminate office landlines completely and get all the department's civil servants using their own mobiles.

As applications become web-enabled, there is less need to store data locally on mobile devices, so the use of smartphones as access devices grows ever more feasible. The manufacturing sector IT leader quoted above, for example, is offering staff in Eastern Europe £300 towards the purchase of whatever equipment they want to use. He said it was easier to prove the concept with a workforce less wedded to the status quo. "Nearer to the centre of big corporations ... resistance [to change] is greater," he said.

Another key driver for 'bring your own' (BYO) IT is the growing demand for flexible working - both from users themselves and also increasingly (especially in the public sector) from managers who see it as a way to help to meet stringent cost-cutting demands by reducing the amount of office space and facilities the organisation requires.

"The business case [for BYO IT] needs to be made - but it is likely to be impressive," said one delegate.

Attendees agreed the key to successful introduction of BYO IT would be the HR issues. For example, if companies offer to subsidise the purchase of kit, there is an administrative overhead. There are also potential issues with broadband performance - if everyone worked from home on Fridays, bandwidth would quickly degrade. But those who have already explored these and other issues said a similar approach to that adopted for company cars should work, supported by suitable employment contracts.

Staff who receive a car allowance instead of a company car are expected to ensure the vehicle they buy is fit for purpose. If they work from home and drive to the office, traffic jams are not an excuse for not working - they have to make up the time.

It's the same for BYO technology. Equipment has to meet minimum standards and staff have to accept the use of approved security tools, such as remote wipe software if a device containing corporate data is lost. And if they have connectivity problems from home, they have to make up the time out of hours or make their way to the office. As one IT leader noted: "We will eventually have to give employees responsibility for their own ability to use and access IT."

And ultimately, as another CIO pointed out, flexible technology isn't what causes the biggest security or cultural problems for organisations: "The most flexible device of all is also the biggest risk - your mouth."

* You can read Bryan's full report of the event over at his Computer Weekly blog here.

Bryan Glick is editor-in-chief of Computer Weekly

Tags:

enterprise 2.0, web-enabled applications, flexible working, user freedom, lockdown, smartphones, netbooks, consumer IT, social IT, corporate IT, IT security, IT architecture

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