GigaOM’s Structure Europe conference, in October, held a panel discussion on the consumerisation of IT and the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) movement. The conclusion being that BYOD is beneficial to enterprise and should be embraced by company IT departments.

One of the issues BYOD brings to the IT environment is the number of operating systems that need managing. From the days of ‘Windows only’ single operating system structures, IT departments now have to handle multiple devices with multiple OSes. Another concern is the rise in employees using their own cloud storage solution to handle documents, potentially moving sensitive information outside of the corporate firewall and creating a security hole.

Shared hosting platforms, such as those offered by Simply Mail Solutions, can help address some of the issues faced with BYOD. Our Hosted Microsoft Exchange service includes ActiveSync, allowing multiple mobile devices to be supported for email, calendars, contacts and more without the IT department having to worry about the individual operating systems.

In addition Hosted Microsoft SharePoint provides a controlled cloud storage environment. The IT department controls who can access individual documents and employees can use any web browser, and Microsoft Office, to access their files.

Article link: BYOD bringing more value and challenges in a Post-PC world.