Where It’s App
With BYOD on the lips of many IT workers, there is one aspect of staff using smartphones and tablets in the workplace that isn’t often addressed and that’s the apps that run on them.
Apple has now approved over 1 million apps on its App Store and the number available on Google Play isn’t that far behind. Although Apple is perhaps a little more strict in regards to what the apps can do, does every user know what the apps they download do exactly?
The main issue with BYOD is that the devices that people bring with them connect to the network, so the apps too may also be able to connect. The user may have given certain apps permission to do certain things, but would an IT manager do the same?
Companies the world over are very careful about what software they allow to run on network attached machines, but do they know what people are running on their phones?
Added to this Gartner recently predicted that a quarter of all enterprises will have their own in-house app store by 2017. Although this will add undoubted advantages to businesses, analysts at Gartner think that it could well make tracking who has what on their devices even harder.
According to Gartner, App stores encourage users to try apps, which in turn means that companies need to keep track of user licences so that they know who is using what and then what that app can do.
It all goes to show that when it comes to allowing your staff to bring their own devices into the office and use them for work, there are a number of different things that you need to examine.
