A Roadmap to BYOD Success

Enterprise mobility is a state of being, but it’s also a measurable, repeatable process. Approaching mobility from a lifecycle standpoint will help an organization focus on optimizing each stage of the process. Having some guidance on what to expect at the different points of the mobility lifecycle is valuable for planning purposes. Such a roadmap should cover the following:

• Planning and policy development, from device selection through eventual deactivation, including which types of workers most benefit from a BYOD program.
• Mobile device management (MDM), either hosted on premises or as a cloud service, and security as a managed service using leading vendors such as AirWatch, MobileIron, MaaS360 by Fiberlink, McAfee and Symantec.
• Application management, including setup, license management and operation of an in-house app store.
• Data center and network optimization to handle anticipated growth in bandwidth and storage requirements caused by the influx of new wireless devices.
• Help desk and warranty services, plus monitoring of wireless plan usage and carrier billing (based on knowledge-driven advice on adjusting plans to achieve the most efficiencies)

Whether contracting with a vendor or keeping the initiative in-house, using a holistic roadmap approach also benefits the IT team by identifying potential roadblocks that can stymie a mobility implementation. For example, traffic can overwhelm the network as many users start to utilize multiple wireless devices in the workplace. Network upgrades may need to encompass not only the wireless segments but also the core network.

Additionally, because it is relatively easy to unify communication channels on mobile devices, users might also drive up bandwidth demands through apps such as video conferencing. The use of a forward-looking roadmap helps define such issues and then plan for changes accordingly.

Similarly, security and endpoint protection challenges are also surmountable with proper planning and use of the latest techniques in containerization and dual-identity device configuration. But strategizing for mobility must include modeling of the ways that enterprise apps and data potentially can be compromised. Again, a roadmap approach offers a way to make sure all security bases are covered.

To learn more, download our free Mobile Solutions reference guide.