BYOD and the Cloud

By | | Outsourced IT Support

‘Bring your own device’, or BYOD, is a product of the anywhere, anytime society we now find ourselves living in. BYOD has come to be because individuals want to be able to access their email, calendar, or even the important presentation they’re working on, whilst they are at home, at lunch or commuting on the train.

Of course, Smartphones and tablets make it possible for people to do this; however, it is fair to say that most companies’ IT departments don’t make a habit of supporting it.

Because of this, many employees end up copying data from their company’s servers to a personal public Cloud storage account which they can then use to download relevant information to their personal device whenever (and wherever) they like. Whilst this is undoubtedly an effective use of the Cloud; it presents all sorts of compliance, confidentiality and even malware issues for the company.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that BYOD is to be frowned upon – it just needs to be utilised with Cloud computing in a wider, more holistic way.

If you run a company then you are right to be wary of BYOD and the public Cloud. Indeed, losing control of your data without losing responsibility for it is not good business in anyone’s book. And, if your business data does go ‘missing’, you won’t even know where it is. At a technical level, this may not be important; but at a legal and regulatory level it certainly is. Moreover, your only real control over your business data is via your contract with the Cloud supplier – and if the supplier fails; well: let’s face it – contracts are no substitute for data.

More Problems
Unsurprisingly, there are a whole host of other potential problems with Cloud implementation which your business may have to deal with. For instance, will you be able to choose and securely configure the right routers, switches and firewalls? Will you know how to react under a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack? Can you manage product patch routines without disrupting service? What about Internet connections and BYOD security? Who will provide support to employees? And of course, what will you do if it all goes wrong?

Solutions
Fortunately, the solution to all of these issues is not to abandon a move to the Cloud, but to seek out IT services in London that can provide exemplary Cloud solutions. We here at Syntax Integration should be your first port of call in this respect as our public and private Cloud solutions will help to ensure your data remains safe and secure and that any compliance issues you may have will be dealt with swiftly and professionally. Indeed, we will make sure you always get the right level of IT technical support and provide you with immediate access to security specialists whenever you need them.

To find out more about the best IT support services London has to offer, simply take a few moments to browse our pages further.