Smartphones at the 2013 CeBIT technology show. Getty Images/Sean Gallup
The Pentagon’s May 2 announcement that it will grant security approvals for mobile devices from Samsung, Apple, and BlackBerry in the coming weeks has highlighted how important the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend is becoming for businesses on a global scale. While companies in the U.S. have been slowly adopting the practice of having employees operate their own mobile phones or tablets for work purposes, that movement is becoming more accepted as smartphones sales beat out feature phone sales and options for secure cloud computing services grow.
The U.S. government had already been using smartphones – traditionally BlackBerrys – until late 2012 when it the Department of Homeland Security publicly snubbed the company by swapping out its BlackBerrys for iPhones. Reports note that there are about 600,000 smart devices currently in use in the Pentagon’s staff, and it has been branching out its subscriptions to various providers including vendors of Android-based phones. The next round of security tests will focus on Samsung’s Galaxy line and Apple’s iPhones and iPads for use in the Defense Department. (The hurdles to jump with BlackBerry’s new phones are obviously lower as the company’s security technology has been a staple of mobile use in the department.)
Federal executive departments, especially those concerned with national security, have long been of interest to mobile device providers because of the profit they stand to gain by having the government rely on their gear and the industry recognition such reliance would command. Enterprise units from the likes of Apple and Samsung have been encroaching on BlackBerry’s prowess in the business sector as their devices gain acclaim for security features, one of the main properties that attracted government departments to BlackBerry’s devices in the first place. But it looks as though the Pentagon is broadening its use of mobile devices across vendors and operating systems — a move that raises the question yet again about security in the cloud.
BYOD in a business requires a level of mobile device management to ensure the confidentiality of data exchange, a proviso that is an even bigger concern in government. The monitoring of data amongst devices on various networks will be a growing industry as more service providers join the space with the ongoing development of cloud computing. And, indeed, its expansion is imminent. Gartner issued a report predicting half of employers will have adopted BYOD practices by 2017. While the U.S. is leading the trend here, India, China, and Brazil business leaders are catching on as well. When the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency decides mid-May which devices are approved for defense use, it will be yet another step in the enterprise space towards global business mobility.
