Are We Ready to BYOT?

We are in sync
with the latest technology

Chandra Gupta, director & head of information technology, Barclays Corporate India

The BYOT concept is the next level of consumerization adopted by companies. BYOT is welcome from an expenditure perspective as it enables to reduce capital allocation for the purchase of smartphones, tablet PCs and notebooks. But from an IT management perspective, it poses challenges because of all the vagaries introduced by all the potential systems that end-users might want to bring to work, says Chandra Gupta, director and head of information technology, Barclays Corporate India.

CIOs can be prepared for the future by taking a few cautious steps. First is to identify the need of implementing BYOT. Business requirement and employee interest should be gauged through appropriate research and surveys. After that comprehensive and transparent IT and HR policies must be formulated, and widely propagated on support and training portals and made an essential part of employee education/induction program.

A one-stop web portal needs to be created to provide procurement, support and training including a list of acceptable systems and applications, equipment standards, subscription services and suppliers, self-help support information and tools, FAQs and links for assistance. Reduced service desk demand owing to employees being responsible for supporting their own technology will result in a lot of cost savings. Lastly, I would advise all CIOs to run a pilot programme with a small group of IT-skilled employees before rolling out the BYOT concept across the company, says Gupta.

Enlightening on the scenario at Barclays, Gupta says, As a bank, Barclays has to treat the BYOT concept with utmost caution. Bank employees have access to highly sensitive and private information. A single security breach can have an adverse impact on the banks business and reputation. We are however, in sync with the latest technology and will use technology which is suitable and fruitful for our business.

Delayed but not denied

Prasad CVG, CIO, ING Vysya Bank

BYOT, the new buzzword, is spelling advantage of use by enabling choice with regard to use of gadgets at the workplace. It is dimishing the boundaries between personal and enterprise technology but is restricted to key departments in certain industries where data security is not a key concern. Use of personal technology has its own set of challenges for the banking and financial institutions where data security is a concern.

With the young generation thronging to new gadgets, enterprises are forced to revisit their policies to enable employees to use latest equipment at the workplace. BFSI may be late to jump on the IT adoption bandwagon but the change will be there without compromise on data security, says Prasad CVG, CIO, ING Vysya Bank.

Successful implementation of BYOT in the BFSI sector can be ensured through virtual desktop infrastructure, which will enable employees to choose gadgets. Users may choose to work on PCs, Macs, iPads, iPhones, Droids and BlackBerrys. Through a virtual desktop setup, banks and financial institutions can address security issues and keep a tab on data leakage. In my view, cloud has to mature for the banking sector. We need create a virtual desktop environment to promote BYOT within banks as it will make employees more productive, feels Prasad.

BYOT is a reality in the work environment and the BFSI sector is no exception. Challenges like security should not force us to restrict from use of new technology. Banks need to experiment with technology. Secured environment for mobile banking, internet banking are some of the proofs. So, BYOT may be delayed in financial sector but not denied, concludes Prasad.

BYOT is still
in a conceptual stage

Sandip Chakraborthy, senior vice president, IT, Bharti AXA General Insurance

After cloud computing and virtualization, implementation of BYOT is the next burning issue for CIOs.

BYOT is still in a conceptual stage, however, lot of studies have already been done on this aspect in context of reduction in our operating cost, says Sandip Chakraborthy, senior vice president, IT, Bharti AXA General Insurance.

The company has categorized its internal customers into 4 categories, namely employees, direct sales force, agency force, and third party vendors who facilitate their policy and claims servicing. Implementing BYOT for employees will always remain a challenge considering dynamic area of security and compliance. According to Chakraborthy, The needs of the remaining 3 categories being quite focused enables the support of BYOT policy. Bharti AXA evaluates and adopts the best practices and technologies available in the market to bring down the IT security risks.

The company has a risk management team that coordinates with the group companies to formulate and ensure adherence of Group Security Norms at Bharti AXA. As security is of primemost importance, security norms at the concern are evaluated on a regular basis. The end user device and application control are supported by policies formulated by the Group Security Team which are assigned Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.0.2 tool, informs Chakraborthy.
BYOT for its employees requires deeper thought. The cost of the device has fairly remained untouched despite great technology advancement in terms of processing speed etc. But the software cost towards security and application (including O/S) has not gone through a price reduction. In a BYOT scenario, employees may procure the device on their own but the company needs to bear the costs of the software to be installed in all such devices for productivity and security reasons, he explains.

BYOT enhances output

Shamik Ghosh, head, IT, Khaitan & Co LLP

Advent of BYOT spells one of the biggest challenges for the CIOs of the day by creating complexity for the organization but also enhancing the companys output. Quite optimistic about the adoption of BYOT, Shamik Ghosh, head, IT of Khaitan & Co LLP says, We provide all kinds of support to new technology. If employees have the freedom to use their technology, it will enhance the output of the organization. The organization has an IT help desk to tackle IT related issues.

Khaitan & Co LLP, a legal services and consulting firm is required to provide technical support to its employees who are frequent travelers, which makes it imperative for the company address the different needs of the employees. Ghosh personally supports use of BYOT at the workplace as it adds to the productivity quotient of the organization. While supporting employee needs security is the primemost concern.

But at the same time, there is an issue of security and most of the CIOs try their best to deal with this issue. According to Ghosh, awareness about the security of the products is the most important thing and it is the organizations responsibility to educate their employees. Most of our employees use latest technologies like BlackBerry, iPad, and the latest smartphones. Since security is critical, the onus of responsibility of data is on the employees and any misuse will prove detrimental for them, explains Ghosh.

With the growing demand of businesses, BYOT is being embraced by many organizations but at the same time, it draws the attention of the CIOs to the burning issue of security.