Panel: Expect productivity gains with BYOD

Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment would not hinder productivity, according to a panel of Chief Information Security Officers.

The CISOs, all of whom have implemented a BYOD strategy at their respective organisations, said at the InfoSecurity Europe conference there were security and application management challenges with BYOD but all agreed on the positive impact it has on employee productivity.

Seeing as the enterprise wouldn't be tasked with purchasing the devices, there are cost benefits, said Thom Langford, director of the global security office at Sapient, an international marketing firm.

"Human nature is very rebellious," Barry Coatesworth, information security officer at retail website NewLook.com said. "If it's a personal device, you probably won't be able to lock down a lot of things. At the end of the day, most of us will be happy as long as it doesn't affect productivity and there's no detriment to the work."

Some companies still shy away from BYOD, and this could end up hurting them, Coatesworth added.

Rather than dodging employee requests, security practitioners should be "flexible and agile." "You need to find out what their needs are and be flexible to those needs," he said.

"If not they'll work around whatever walls you put up. We need to move ahead of the times."

This article originally appeared at scmagazineus.com