Enterprise Mobility – More Usage Means More Risk?

Irrespective of our assumptions that enterprise mobility is a relatively new concept, veterans of the industry reveal that it is as old as mobile phones itself. This means that this concept has grown up steadily since the 1980s, when mobile phones were invented and has reached new horizons with smart phones and mobile apps. In the last decade, we have witnessed a huge increase in smart phones and mobile apps usage and advent of many technologies like BYOD. This has exposed business owners to several challenges in maintaining the security of the confidential data. According to research done by a Dallas based mobile apps manufacturing company, enterprise mobility is the biggest concern for companies of all sizes and sectors. It says that as more mobiles will get involved in accomplishing business goals, businesses will need more security measures to prevent them from mishandling data or the confidential information. This report gives a bird's eye view of the current enterprise mobility industry and where it is heading to. The overall report is a clear evidence of the fact that enterprise mobility is growing tremendously and has a bright future. However, it does not also deny the risks that business owners will have to face because of uprising of this concept.

Mobile business applications and enterprise mobility have a major role in every business owner's life and this role is expected to span more as the technology advances. Business owners say that their investment in enterprise mobility initiated in 2007, which is coincidentally the year of Apple's first iPhone release. It was then, that business owners started looking for newer and advanced tools to secure mobile sharing, and controlling the content and why not? They have a number of reasons to do this. The first reason is the amount of work, which needs the Internet connectivity is increasing drastically. Secondly, enterprise mobility allows employees to work from remote locations, meet the clients to discuss the issues and get the deal signed. Third and most important is that smart phones are getting smarter day-by-day, allowing apps to have more control over business and reduced human intervention. Although, it enhances productivity; but after all, it's a technology and could fail any time, making hackers to intrude in your confidential data.

No doubt, enterprise mobility offers a number of benefits to the business owners. In the report cited by me above, more than 70 percent business owners agree that it helps in increasing productivity. Sixty-nine percent said that it helped in improving customer relationship and increasing sales. Around 68 percent said that it enhanced their decision-making capabilities. Other benefits mentioned were increased coordination, increased employee satisfaction and reduced cost of doing business. These wonderful benefits have a haunting question attached within i.e. what about content control. Using the same device for personal and professional use increases chance of confidential data being shared without any content control strategy.

If this happens, then it could be disastrous for the enterprise and its reputation in the market and all the benefits that we discussed above will appear as a nightmare. Therefore, enterprises have to be extra-cautious while implementing enterprise mobility or getting a business app. Before releasing your app for employees, customers and partners, you should test it on some rigorous parameters and ensure that there is no chance of data being accessed by someone who is not authorized to access it.