SolarWinds, a provider of powerful and affordable IT management software, released the results of a personal mobile device survey conducted in partnership with Network World.
SolarWinds and Network World surveyed 400 IT professionals about how they are dealing with the Bring Your Own (Mobile) Device trend. Respondents expressed security concerns and IT support challenges. They cited the potential for loss of confidential information; legal issues and regulatory compliance risks; the introduction of malware threats; and the management burden associated with supporting diverse types of devices.
“IT professionals know that the BYOD trend is coming – or has already arrived – and many don’t know how much support or oversight they should provide on personal mobile devices,” said Sanjay Castelino, vice president of product marketing, SolarWinds. “They are trying to build the boat while sailing it, and are learning every day what the implications of BYOD are to their corporate networks.”
With the increased use of mobile devices in the workplace, 44 percent of respondents said they’ve seen an increase in help desk requests, over 40 percent said they’ve experienced an increase in network traffic, and over 15 percent have experienced an increase in security issues.
Over 65 percent said they don’t have the necessary tools in place to manage non-company-issued mobile devices on the network. One respondent noted, “An increase in workload due to a more diverse hardware and software infrastructure,” and another said that the management overhead is so significant that “we needed to outsource mobile device management to keep up with the demand.”
When asked to rate their level of confidence that they know about all of the personal mobile devices with access to the corporate network, over 27 percent said they are not at all confident.
Depending on the company policy, specific devices may be prohibited, devices may have to be approved, or personal devices may be banned altogether.
“Respondents said they’re employing a wide range of vendor tools and security tactics in order to provide safe, productive mobile access to employees,” said Ann Bednarz, associate online news editor, Network World. “Usage policies vary, and many are a work in progress as business priorities shift and access technologies mature. Determining security policies that can be reasonably enforced on personal mobile devices is tricky.”
SolarWinds IT management portfolio includes network management products to help IT professionals manage personal devices on the corporate network. This includes Network Performance Monitor (NPM), NetFlow Traffic Analyzer (NTA) for traffic analysis, Log & Event Manager (LEM) for detection of security issues, and User Device Tracker (UDT) to track the location of users.
The company recently acquired Rove, a mobile IT management vendor, releasing SolarWinds Mobile Admin software.
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