Mobility strategy Assignment Requirements

Mobility strategy Assignment Requirements: The best approach to this question is to break it down into the following parts and remember you are answering the question from the organisation’s perspective (not the user):
1. Compare and contrast BYOD, CYOD and COPE as a mobility strategy for an organisation. You must define each of the strategies as well as identify the potential advantages and any risks and concerns that the strategy may have on the organisation.
2. Identify 5 system development issues in regards to the mobility strategy. Here you are expected to identify areas that the mobility strategy will impact on the IT strategy for the whole organisation.
3. What strategy would you choose for an organisation with a travelling sales force of 150 people working across three (3) different time zones? You must make a recommendation and justify why you have chosen the particular mobility strategy for the given scenario.
4. Based on your recommendation, identify the issues that an organisation should address when developing “Acceptable Use” policy. Do not provide an Acceptable use policy. You have been asked to identify the issues that should be addressed in the policy for the organisation based on the mobility strategy that you have recommended.
Present your answer in a business report format that could be presented to the senior leadership team of an organisation.

APA referencing must be used, where relevant, with citations and a list of references for any sources referred to in this assessment.

Answers

Question # 1

Comparison of BYOD, CYOD AND COPE

When running a small business, the management may be aware of the costs that occur due to technological updates. Most staff would request for the latest phone, complain about an outdated technology or even ask for a laptop or tablet.  The best way to address such issues is to allow the workforce to use their personal devices. The concept is known as Bring Your Own Device. The aim of using this strategy is to reduce cost while at the same time increase productivity in the organization (Ghosh et al., 2013). However, it is not enough to tell the staff to use their stuff. If a company introduces BYOD it needs to control it by developing policies and make careful considerations of security. Devices are today becoming more personal and therefore it is hard to dictate to employees on the brand to use. More so, most individuals are self-sufficient on issues of IT. The workforce already understands their smart phones, laptop or tablets that may have a higher spec than the ones purchased by the company in a cost-conscious manner. Furthermore, it may be easier to provide hardware and software but the employees may be unwilling to accept them. As a result, it is paramount to embrace BYOD while understanding the benefits and most importantly control the risks. The greatest benefit of this strategy is a cost reduction on hardware and software licensing. On the other hand, there is employee satisfaction as workers can work productively and flexible as they use technology that is familiar to them. On the other hand, BYOD can attract the best talent since top performing applicants demand a flexible BYOD (Pell, 2013).  However, there are disadvantages to BYOD since company data is accessible on personal devices.  It means the company has no control over its data. Then again, the biggest risk to having BYOD is that there is no policy in place. It is essential to guard against data leakage or loss. More so, the devices must have anti-virus, encryption, Pass codes among others.

CYOD

Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) is among the newest approach where companies offer their employees a standard set of devices to choose from.  The staff can pay and own the devices or the company can offer a renewable hardware remuneration to allow the organization possess the device after the resignation of the user. The advantage of using this type of strategy is that it allows the end user to control their technology. CYOD has the advantages of BYOD in that it also increases employee productivity, satisfaction and also allows the staff to mix business as well as personal apps on the same device.  Nonetheless, the disadvantages are that the user may be dissatisfied with the device options and may they may also struggle to repair and manage replacement.

COPE

Corporate-owned, Personally Enabled (COPE) is similar to CYOD, but the company is the one providing the devices. The business retains ownership of the equipment.  COPE is the method that offers the most authority and control compared to BYOD and CYOD. It, therefore, results in lower security concerns than the other two strategies.  It is a popular choice for large institutions that require compliance and security. However, employees have less freedom with the device leading to low productivity (Pell, 2013). The business must also have a proactive and innovative approach to keep up with technology, and in most cases, it ends up being the slowest approach to deploy.

Question # 2

System development issues in Mobility strategy

Basically, mobility strategy entails principles that organizations use to generate the desired pattern of decision making.  The strategy is about how the staff in the organization makes decisions and allocates resources to accomplish objectives.

• The first issue is to allow key stakeholders to get involved. It is also vital to ensure unit managers are engaged in the discussions on the type of stipend to use and the one that will result in employee satisfaction.
• The company should also allow the user to use the devices they prefer and execute applications they require. They should also allow the staff to access data stream they require. But on the other hand, the IT managers must be able to control and also track what the user wants, where they want to go, either in or out of the enterprise network.
• A company may also require a mobility management solution to support and adapt the unique constraints of the technology world. The organization must ensure they can provide, secure, manage and also update the device and application policies.
• The fourth issue is to ensure the working environment allows the employees to work on the task at any location, similar to the way they can work from their desks. When the user lacks a positive experience then the device or technology may not be used to its full potential.
• Lastly, the organization has to balance usability and security. Organizations must find the right tools as well as platforms to build apps for their business goals and meet the needs of employees (Doherty, 2016).

Question # 3

The best strategy for an organization with a traveling force and working under different time zones is the use of COPE. The organization allows its employees to use mobile computing devices. It also enables the organization to have the power to protect its data both legally and technically.  The ownership of the devices grants the company the right to disconnect devices on corporate networks. Besides, it is easy for the management to determine the application networks as well as systems for a corporate-owned policy device.  The company can also determine specific information that the staff can retrieve in certain areas (Murphy, 2015).

Question # 4

In developing an acceptable use policy, the organization must be aware of the issues of compliance, training, and IT risk management. In essence, the management should understand that technology can work and at the same time prevent any risk to security. Having that in mind, the management should, therefore, create a culture of risk management. They must ensure the staff is valued enabling them to protect data and technology assets.  An acceptable use policy is a series of rules that describe what the user may or may not do with the technology. Fundamentally, the policy requires all the staff to acknowledge the rules and understand the potential consequences of the violation (Weaver, 2013).  It is, therefore, critical to have a good policy that outlines the rules and more so that explains the general rationale for them. It will enable the staff to buy into the concept and view the rules as reasonable. A good policy appears to be one of the management locks everything down and even restrict staff. However, the best one should be far more nuanced. The organization has to consider the impacts of the policy before establishing the rules (Keengwe & IGI Global, 2017).  The rules should be practical. Besides the employees need to know what to be backed up, the data that needs encryption during transmission and valuable data.

References

Doherty, J. (2016). Wireless and mobile device security. Burlington, MA : Jones & Bartlett Learning,

Ghosh, A., Gajar, P. K., & Rai, S. (2013). Bring your own device (BYOD): Security risks and mitigating strategies. International Journal of Global Research in Computer Science (UGC Approved Journal), 4(4), 62-70.

Keengwe, J., & IGI Global,. (2017). Handbook of research on digital content, mobile learning, and technology integration models in teacher education. Hershey, Pennsylvania (701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey, Pennsylvania, 17033, USA) IGI Global

Murphy, G. B. (2015). SSCP®: Systems security certified practitioner : study guide. Indianapolis, Indiana: Wiley.

Pell, L. (2013). BYOD Implementing the Right Policy. University of Derby, UK, 95-98.

Weaver, D. (2013). Guide to network defense and countermeasures, international edition. Cengage Learning, Inc