WWLW Ep. 23: The Case of the Viable BYOD Program

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What we know  

Davie is working with a customer who needs to balance strong security controls with a user-friendly mobile BYOD program. This customer wants to protect sensitive data, apply DLP rules, and ensure that enterprise applications are available to their employees. Other solutions they explored forced too many trade-offs: either requiring too much intrusion into the employee’s personal device, or creating a cumbersome interface that isn’t optimized for a mobile device screen.

What we learned

A common approach for mobile BYOD programs is to use a mobile device management (MDM) solution. The challenge with this approach is that it requires a device enrollment workflow that’s unfamiliar to users and requires that employees allow management of their personal device — including the ability to wipe their device, inspect the installed apps, or route all network traffic through a proxy. For privacy-conscious employees, this is often a bridge too far.

The other approach this customer explored as desktop virtualization. Many VDI platforms offer a mobile interface, but the user experience is generally poor. Rendering virtualized applications on a tablet-sized screen may work for some use cases, but doing that on a phone is a stretch.

When this customer met with Davie and saw Island, the Enterprise Browser, they immediately saw the potential for their BYOD program.

What happened next

With the Enterprise Browser available on both iOS and Android app stores, every employee can easily install the app with the same familiar workflow they’re accustomed to. Once launched, they authenticate with their enterprise identity and can access all the apps provisioned to them. When they’re done with their work tasks, they simply switch apps to their consumer browser of choice. Unlike an MDM solution, Island doesn’t require any device-level configurations so their personal devices remain personal. When an employee leaves the organization, they simply delete the Island app and there’s nothing left behind on their device.

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