Guest Blogger – Ed Correia, President & CEO, Sagacent Technologies, Inc.

Looking back over my last three decades in computers (actually 34 years now), technology has come a very long way and changed a lot. I saw the introduction of the personal computer, the very first computer networks, email, the dawn of the Internet, only very recently Cloud computing – and now tons of personal mobile devices.

And these new personal devices are now making their way into nearly every business environment in a multitude of ways, but most concerningly as: USB memory sticks or jump drives, smart phones, laptops and tablet computers. These personally purchased and unmanaged devices are becoming integrated into business environments that already had business-purchased and securely managed laptops, smart phones and tablet PCs. In fact, many businesses are now encouraging their employees to BYOD – or Bring Your Own Device.

So now the business networks that we care for are quickly becoming networks of previously un-imanageable complexity. The world of technology is clearly changing again and my business must change too – and find solutions fast!

Our immediate challenges to be answered greatly center around MDM (or Mobile Device Management):

• How do we manage business data on so many different devices?
• How do we manage all of these devices, even those not actually owned by the company?
• How to we protect the business data and isolate it from people and devices that are not authorized?
• If required, how do we remove business data from a personal device without harming the personal data?
• How do we then maximize the usability, function and productivity of these environments and all these new devices?

While a lot of people and vendors are already proposing products and solutions to address these issues, the truth is that no one knows all these answers – yet. But we are already attending industry conferences with peers, participating in online seminars, meeting with vendors and looking at lots and lots of products. Some of the early answers that we are sharing with clients today include:

• Making business owners aware of these challenges and discussing options.
• Establishing computer usage policies and acceptable use agreement for employees.
• Only allowing personal devices access to company data if that device can be remotely managed and if required, remotely wiped of all company data.

Related, but not exclusive to managing personal mobile devices, we have been encouraging clients to allow us to initiate:

• Regular automated remote backups of laptops.
• Encryption of data or hard drives on laptop computers.
• Purchase laptops, or programs for them, which allow the easy segregation of company-owned and personal data.

So change is nothing new for technology, and as usual, it is never boring – the answers are out there and we’ll find them for you.