One of the unique aspects of today’s workplace is that it is no longer defined by the traditional needs to carry out tasks from fixed locations. Instead, the growing trend is seeing the workplace of 2018 being homes, coffee shops, shared workspaces, public transport and just about anywhere. A recent Deloitte report showed 68 percent of organizations agreeing to “mobile workforce is an enabler of business and talent strategies.” Driven at the beginning by the iPhone-inspired mobile phone revolution, the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) rise is making mobility a must-have reality for companies.
The enterprise mobility market is thriving thanks to a 31% year-on-year jump in the total number of connected ‘devices’. However, with an ever-increasing array of end-points allowing for data-proliferation at accelerated rates, IT leaders are being coaxed to ensure employer infrastructure is kept secure.
Mobile Data Threat
With 5G coming to the fore in a big way (projected subscription base of half a billion by 2022), mobile data usage will hit new levels. This is seen in a projected growth in the mobile enterprise app market over the same timeframe. Companies are looking to invest in solutions that would help them maximize this opportunity.
Productivity can truly begin once an organization’s base is stable and protected from attacks. For all the benefits in the form of workflows and enhanced services, the data revolution is susceptible as a security threat. Thanks to a mobile workforce and an unprecedented space for attack, cybercriminals have it easy. Recently the global hotel chain, Marriott, announced they were victims of a ransomware attack compromising data of over 500 million customers. Thanks to the majority of cases being accountable to cyber-attacks and hackers, employees are under the radar when referring to compromising data. It is imperative companies look towards advancing their IT infrastructure to minimize and eliminate employee-level data attacks.
The Mobile Cloud
We have found that for a majority of IT leaders’ data requirements cloud computing is the answer. Businesses are racing to tap into the advantages of business agility and scalability offered by the cloud. However, the growing number of internet-enabled devices places a massive strain on such services and can have disruptive business impacts. The sheer volume, thanks to cloud datacenters being located thousands of miles away from end users, can cause a lag in business processes.
A combination of the rise in mobility, data proliferation, and heightened security threats is resulting in trends due to IT managers looking to manage and maximize estates. These include mobile zero and thin clients, which offer robustly secure resolution to Edge Computing and mobile data management. The real question lies in how such solutions are implemented and in what ways are they helping companies overcome today’s productivity issues?
Mobile Zero and Thin Clients
Security continues to be the number one deterrent towards mobile productivity in face of increasing threat levels. This is at a device-level where many see the greatest exposure to such risks. Thin clients are low-cost endpoint computing devices relying heavily on servers for computational roles. Zero clients are server-based computing models in which the end user’s computing device has zero local storage.
Both zero and thin client solutions allow companies to nullify individual device threats, centralizing data access management and permissions. When you store data away from the device, making it accessible only through existing cloud-based VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure), the threat of stored malware is eliminated, along with concerns around compromised data in the case of stolen devices. As mobile devices help bolster workplace productivity, the role such solutions play in ensuring safe data management is evident.
Edge computing also helps bolster workplace productivity by combating today’s growing security threats amplified within today’s professional environments. 80 percent of mobile device data is encrypted. A transition to the Edge can result in major cost savings for companies attempting to be mobile.
Sasken is enabling digital transformation and driving up workplace productivity for a range of industries and businesses. We are meeting the challenge of creating an infrastructure perfectly combining productivity with data security head-on. Our target is to ensure more workplace productivity and secure work environments for all our clients in the coming year.
