What are the biggest challenges when it comes to mobile security?
According to industry insider Brian Egenrieder, who spoke late last year with Enterprise Mobility Exchange, one of the biggest issues companies face is balancing productivity with security.
“As mobile devices have crept into the workplace,” Egenrieder says, “the security policies that go with them often inhibit the amount and quality of work able to be done.”
Put another way: security is important, but so is remembering why your organization uses mobile devices and apps in the first place.
The rest of Egenrieder’s interview with EME is worth a read–he has some interesting ideas regarding device ownership and how best to approach EMM security–but we were glad to see his comments about productivity. This is something we hear time and time again from customers: they want secure devices and data, but not at the expense of productivity.
Too often, organizations take draconian steps to secure devices (like using an MDM solution to lock down the entire device) without considering the impact they’ll have. It’s great to have strong EMM security policies, but they need to be carefully designed so that employees and other constituents continue to engage their devices as intended.
In fact, just a few months ago, we talked about why we believe MAM is an ideal solution to the enterprise mobility security puzzle. MDM is a heavyweight and often unnecessary solution, and in contrast, MAM provides app-level controls that allow all the fine tuning today’s organizations need to keep their data secure. The best part is that thanks to MAM, securing your data is possible all within a user-friendly approach that won’t keep your employees from turning on their phones and using your apps.
At the end of the day, Egenrieder’s comments are sound: balancing productivity with security can be a herculean task. When designing your organizational security policies and determining how you plan to keep your company’s data secure, don’t forget about your users.
Security should always be the foremost priority, but not when it causes your constituents to stop using their devices entirely. Keep that in mind, and your enterprise mobility strategy is far more likely to be successful in the long run.
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Photo by Martin Olsen on Unsplash
