Upper Iowa University Is BYOD Good for Business Case Study Discussion 1.Case study- This weeks case study is the Business Problem Solving Case Study Titled

Upper Iowa University Is BYOD Good for Business Case Study Discussion 1.Case study- This weeks case study is the Business Problem Solving Case Study Titled: Is BYOD Good for BusinessInstructions:You will complete a chapter case study each week to apply the chapters readings. Each case study contains questions at the end of each case, respond to these questions in a 1-2 page paper. Be sure to reference and apply the APA writing style to your paper. Your paper should include 1-2 pages NOT including the cover and reference pages. Your paper should include at least 2 references, 1 being your course text.2. DB- Your discussion post for this week should include your opinion on this weeks case study and at least 1 question for your fellow classmates to respond to. BUSINESS PROBLEM SOLVING CASE
Is BYOD Good for Business?
Just about everyone who has a smartphone wants to incredibly easy for employees to get sucked into an
be able to bring it to work and use it on the job. And endless black hole of text messaging, YouTube vid-
why not? Employees using their own smartphones eos, and checking Facebook updates. Productivity
would allow companies to enjoy all the same benefits will suffer (see the Chapter 7 Interactive Session on
of a mobile workforce without spending their own People).
money to purchase these devices. Smaller companies BYOD requires a significant portion of corporate
are able to go mobile without making large invest- IT resources dedicated to managing and maintain-
ments in devices and mobile services. Gartner, Inc. ing a large number of devices within the organiza-
consultants have predicted that by 2017, 50 percent tion. In the past, companies tried to limit business
of employers will require employees to supply their smartphone use to a single platform. This made it
own mobile devices for the workplace. BYOD is easier to keep track of each mobile device and to roll
becoming the “new normal.”
out software upgrades or fixes because all employees
Shouldn’t businesses rejoice? Not necessarily. Half were using the same devices or, at the very least, the
of all enterprises believe that BYOD represents a same operating system. Today, the mobile digital
growing problem for their organizations, according landscape is much more complicated, with a variety
to a number of studies. Although BYOD can
of devices and operating systems on the market that
improve employee job satisfaction and productivity, do not have well-developed tools for administration
it also can cause a number of problems if not man- and security. Android has over 80 percent of the
aged properly. Support for personally owned devices worldwide smartphone market, but it is more dif-
is more difficult than it is for company-supplied ficult to use for corporate work than Apple mobile
devices, the cost of managing mobile devices can devices using the iOS operating system. IOS is con-
increase, and protecting corporate data and net- sidered a closed system and runs only on a limited
works becomes more difficult.
number of different Apple mobile devices. In con-
When employees bring their own devices to work, trast, Android’s fragmentation makes it more dif-
IT departments lose almost all control over the hard- ficult and costly for corporate IT to manage. There
ware. They can’t control what apps or programs are are about 25,000 different models of Android-based
installed, how the devices are secured, or what files devices available around the world, according to a
are downloaded. In the past the firm was able to report by OpenSignal, which researches wireless net-
control who had what technology in order to prevent works and devices. Android’s huge consumer market
privacy breaches, hacking, and unauthorized access share attracts many hackers. Android is also vulner-
to corporate information. Inability to control the able because it has an open source architecture and
hardware means more vulnerabilities. That is the comes in multiple versions.
big tradeoff with BYOD: offering employees greater If employees are allowed to work with more than
flexibility while potentially exposing the company to one type of mobile device and operating system,
danger.
companies need an effective way to keep track of
Certain industries, such as healthcare, have
all the devices employees are using. To access com-
incredibly strict regulations about the use and dis- pany information, the company’s networks must be
tribution of personal information. Companies must configured to receive connections from that device.
comply with these policies, even if the data reside When employees make changes to their personal
on an employee-owned device. A failure to comply phone, such as switching cellular carriers, changing
can result in significant legal penalties, and allow- their phone number, or buying a new mobile device
ing employees to load confidential data onto their altogether, companies will need to quickly and flex-
personal devices greatly increases the risk of compli- ibly ensure that their employees are still able to
ance failure.
remain productive. Firms need a system that keeps
BYOD advocates have argued that it increases track of which devices employees are using, where
employee productivity, but that is not always the the device is located, whether it is being used, and
case. When employees bring their own devices to what software it is equipped with. For unprepared
work, they may be tempted to use them on the job
companies, keeping track of who gets access to what
for entertainment or catching up with friends. It’s data could be a nightmare.
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Part II: Information Technology Infrastructure
190
in attracting younger workers who are attached to
With the large variety of mobile devices and
operating systems available, providing adequate their mobile devices and constantly use the apps.
technical support for every employee could be dif- Blackstone, a global investment and advisory firm,
ficult. When employees are not able to access critical has implemented a BYOD policy, but it has placed
data or encounter other problems with their mobile limitations on the types of devices employees can
devices, they will need assistance from the informa- use. Blackstone’s BYOD policy only allows employ-
tion systems department. Companies that rely on ees to use their own Apple products such as iPads.
desktop computers tend to have many of the same For that company, Apple devices were the easiest to
computers with the same specs and operating sys- support and required little maintenance compared
tems, making tech support that much easier. Mobil- to other mobile tools. Any other devices would add
ity introduces a new layer of variety and complexity to the workload of Blackstone’s IT department, thus
to tech support that companies need to be prepared eliminating the cost savings that often come with
to handle.
BYOD. Due to Apple’s popularity, few employees
There are significant concerns with securing com- have objected.
pany information accessed with mobile devices. If At Venafi, a cybersecurity company, employees
a device is stolen or compromised, companies need have the option of bringing their own smartphones,
ways to ensure that sensitive or confidential infor- tablets, and notebooks to work with them or using
mation isn’t freely available to anyone. Mobility company-issued devices. The company has a well-
puts assets and data at greater risk than if they were developed BYOD policy. Venafi’s IT department
only located within company walls and on company does not support employees’ hardware devices
machines. Marble Security Labs analyzed 1.2 million because it would be too difficult to handle all the
Android and iOS apps and found that the consumer different mobile devices and software available to
apps on mobile devices did not adequately protect consumers. That means employees are responsible
business information. Companies often use tech- for troubleshooting and repairs of their personal
nologies that allow them to wipe data from devices equipment. However, Venafi does ensure that each
remotely or encrypt data so that if the device is sto- device each device is securely connected to the cor-
len, it cannot be used. You’ll find a detailed discus-
porate network.
sion of mobile security issues in Chapter 8.
According to Tammy Moskites, Venafi CISO
Intel was a pioneer in the BYOD movement and and CIO, the biggest challenge in defining a BYOD
has successfully implemented an enterprise-wide policy that leaves everyone satisfied has been balanc-
policy covering more than 30,000 employee mobile ing risk with flexibility. Although Venafi has given
devices. Another major issue surrounding a cor- employees the choice of using their own mobile
porate BYOD policy is the potential lack of trust devices, it has also written contracts with language
between workers and management when manage- describing the terms and conditions for bringing
ment has access to personal data on employee personal devices into work, including the ability to
devices. To deal with this issue, Intel has established remove company data from the device if needed.
clear-cut guidelines informing employees about
Many corporate BYOD policies restrict access
exactly what information can and can’t be seen when to time-wasting sites like Facebook, YouTube,
administrators manage personal devices. Intel will or Twitter. But Venafi management believes that
quickly respond to any questions employees might instead of resorting to measures like blocking
have regarding BYOD. The company also allows YouTube or Facebook and forbidding the use of
employees to choose among different levels of mobile mobile phones, companies should focus more on
access to corporate systems, with each tier accompa- performance. As long as the employees are motivated
nied by different levels of security.
and performing well, they shouldn’t be subjected to
SAP, a leading global vendor of enterprise software, unnecessary restrictions. Employees typically don’t
is another tech company that has implemented BYOD understand the implications of BYOD and the dan-
successfully. The company developed a specialized gers of lax security. Venafi’s IT department tries to
mobile platform for various work-related applica- educate employees about the realities of BYOD and
tions, enabling employees to work from anywhere gives them the power to use their devices responsibly.
with their mobile devices. SAP has also created a Iftekhar Khan, IT director at Toronto’s Chelsea
security system for decommissioning a mobile device
Hotel, remains less sanguine. He believes BYOD
within a minute whenever a smartphone or tablet is might work for his company down the road but not
lost or stolen. All SAP divisions across the globe have in the immediate future. Khan notes that the hospi-
reported some form of success with BYOD. SAP
tality industry and many others still want employ-
Australia/New Zealand reports that the policy is key ees to use corporate-owned devices for any laptop,
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Chapter 5: IT Infrastructure: Hardware and Software
tablet, or smartphone requiring access to the corpo-
rate network. His business has sensitive information
and needs that level of control. Although the hotel
might possibly save money with BYOD, it’s ulti-
mately all about productivity.
Sources: Lisa Phifer, “The Challenges of a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
Policy,” Simple MDM, January 5, 2017; Sarah K. White, “How to Implement
an Effective BYOD Policy,” CIO, September 26, 2016; Ryan Patrick, “Is a
BYOD Strategy Best for Business?” IT World Canada, March 22, 2016; “5
BYOD Management Case Studies,” Sunviewsoftware.com, accessed May 5,
2016; Linda Gimmeson, “3 Companies Showing Success with BYOD,”
Toolbox.com, July 9, 2015; Aruba Networks, “Enterprise Security Threat
Level Directly Linked to User Demographics, Industry and Geography,
Business Wire, April 14, 2015; Alan F., “Open Signal: 24,093 Unique and
Different Android-Powered Devices Are Available,” Phonearena.com,
August 5, 2015.
CASE STUDY QUESTIONS
5-13 What are the advantages and disadvantages
of allowing employees to use their personal
mobile devices for work?
5-14 What people, organization, and technology
factors should be addressed when decid-
ing whether to allow employees to use their
personal mobile devices for work?
5-15 Evaluate how the companies described in this
case study dealt with the challenges of BYOD.
5-16 Allowing employees to use their own smart-
phones for work will save the company money.
Do you agree? Why or why not?
MyLab MIS
SA
Go to the Assignments section of MyLab MIS to complete these writing exercises.
5-17 What are the distinguishing characteristics of cloud computing and what are the
three types of cloud services?
5-18 What is the total cost of ownership of technology assets and what are its cost
components?
O
Chapter 5 References
Amazon Web Services. “Overview of Amazon Web Services.” (April 2017).
Andersson, Henrik, James Kaplan, and Brent Smolinski. “Capturing Value from IT Infrastructure
Innovation.” McKinsey Quarterly (October 2012).
Babcock, Charles. “Cloud’s Thorniest Question: Does It Pay Off?” Information Week (June 4, 2012).
Benlian, Alexander, Marios Koufaris, and Thomas Hess. “Service Quality in Software-as-a-Service:
Developing the SaaS-Qual Measure and Examining Its Role in Usage Continuance.” Journal of
Management Information Systems 28, No. 3 (Winter 2012).
Butler, Brandon. “Battle of the Clouds: Amazon Web Services vs. Microsoft Azure vs. Google Cloud
Platform.” Network World (February 22, 2017).
Castellanos, Sara. “Companies Look to Make a Quantum Leap with New Technology.” New York
Times (May 6, 2017).
Carr, Nicholas. The Big Switch (New York: Norton, 2008.)
Clark, Don. “Intel Unveils Tiny Quark Chips for Wearable Devices.” Wall Street Journal (September 10,
2013)
Choi, Jae, Derek L. Nazareth, and Hemant K. Jain. “Implementing Service-Oriented Architecture in
Organizations.” Journal of Management Information Systems 26, No. 4 (Spring 2010).
Follow, Jaewon Kang. “IBM Bets on Next-Gen Technologies as It Tries to Stave Off Rivals.
TheStreet.com (May 5, 2016).
Gartner, Inc. “Gartner Says by 2020 ‘Cloud Shift’ Will Affect More Than $1 Trillion in IT
Spending” (July 20, 2016).
Gartner, Inc. “Gartner Says Worldwide IT Spending Forecast to Grow 2.7 Percent in 2017.”
www.gartner.com (January 12, 2017).

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