How To Manage Company Smartphones And Tablets

For 3 days after the release of the iPad Mini tablet, Apple were shipping a million units per day. Every Smartphone and tablet has Gigabytes of storage capacity, can connect to Twitter, webmail and online storage facilities such as Dropbox, and can provide access to your company’s email systems. What’s more, they will probably  end up being connected to your network sooner or later. It's a problem that business owners would rather avoid.

Is There A Mobile Device Security Problem?

There are some genuine security issues. An employee's lost smartphone can potentially result in data leakage of client data or company intellectual property, yet the cost savings that can be realised by letting your employees use their own smartphones and tablets to access their company email and work from home are compelling. You therefore need to take a view on the risk of a security breach caused by mobile devices and formulate their own policy for how they can be used in your business.

How Serious is the risk?

The risk associated with mobile devices will very much depend on the nature of your company's business. If you are an Independent Financial Adviser for example, then you should be encrypting client confidential information on laptops anyway to comply with FSA regulation, and the same level of protection should be afforded to tablet devices. In this respect, the iPad has the lead over Android tablets insofar as encryption is built into Apple iOS by design. Equally if you don’t operate in a regulated industry, but you may carry client confidential or company confidential information on your tablet device, I would argue that the iPad is a better choice for the same reason. You may not attract the wrath of a regulatory body if you leave an iPad with your latest product design or your clients’ latest management accounts on the train, but it could still severely damage your company’s profits or reputation.

Sensible Mobile Security 

Mobile Device Security products are available from the major security vendors as well as a number of smaller vendors that allow you to apply sensible precautions for mobile devices. You can for example:

• Enforce a password / PIN policy for smartphones that connect to your network.
• Report on Apps that are installed on your Smartphones and Tablets.
• Block devices that don’t provide encryption.
• Selectively wipe files and company emails in the event that the device is lost or stolen, or if the employee leaves the company.
• Set up a portal from which recommended Apps can be downloaded.

The cost of this software is relatively inexpensive, and it can be managed by a Managed Service Provider as part of a Managed IT Service if you don’t have the skills to manage the system within your company.

If you would like more information on our support services portfolio for small businesses, please visit our web site, download our Managed Services White Paper, or email us at info@clearview.co.uk.