Are your employees doing their own thing on their own devices, or are they doing your business your way? Defining a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy is just part of what you need to do to make sure mobile computing is an effective part of your technology strategy.

Define Your Mobile Strategy

You can’t succeed with mobility if you don’t have clear goals for your use of mobile technology and an explicit mobility strategy. If your aim is to increase employee morale, you’ll make different choices than if your goal is to transform your business through use of new business-related mobile apps.

Implement a Mobile Technology Infrastructure

Even if you rely on employees to provide their own mobile devices, your IT infrastructure needs to be enhanced to support mobile access. Your network may need to be enhanced to support access from outside the office; your security procedures definitely will. You’ll need a new help desk to provide users access and support when they have experience problems.

Control Mobile Device Usage

Because there are potential risks in allowing employees’ mobile devices to connect to your network, it’s important to define and enforce your mobility policies. This includes writing out your BYOD policy and ensuring employees read and agree to it before their devices are granted access. Mobile Device Management and Enterprise Mobility Management software provide additional features to restrict which devices are able to connect to company resources; they also allow you to enforce safe mobile computing practices such as passwords, and they help you delete data if a device is lost.

Teach Mobile Device Usage

Even if they’re using their devices for work, most employees are unlikely to think of their phones as computers and to realize they need to apply safe computing practices. That means you’ll need to teach them about the risks and instruct them in the steps they need to ensure that their devices, and your corporate data, are secure.

Mobile devices are an essential component of most business’s information technology infrastructures, but because they’re small and not supplied by the business, they often don’t get the attention they need. Prescient Solutions offers comprehensive mobile services to businesses and organizations in the Chicago and Schaumburg areas. We provide the entire range of services needed to implement a mobile computing strategy, from developing your strategy to provisioning and help desk services through implementation of security and mobile device management software. Contact us to learn how our mobile services can support your mobility strategy.