European firms now plunge 32% of the telecom and
networking budgets into mobility, according to a report by
Forrester Research.
Attracted by the prospect of greater productivity, cost savings
and higher staff morale, 70% of organisations have some type of
mobile application and many see mobile strategy as a priority.
But according to research from Cisco, many remote workers ignore
or resent IT trying to control the way they work away from the
office.
In six out of the 10 countries surveyed, most remote workers
expect their managers to dictate their behaviour and don’t respect
the authority of the IT department. Some 38% of French remote
workers take this even further, believing it’s no one’s business to
control their usage at all.
Even though two-thirds of remote workers claim to be aware of
security concerns, many openly flout the rules and open suspicious
e-mails or access corporate files with personal devices.
Cisco chief security officer John Stewart says the IT department
should establish itself as a trusted advisor on security and
educate employees about their risks and responsibilities.
“IT has an opportunity – and obligation – to evolve its image
and take a leadership role in making the connection between
security risks and workers’ actions,” says Stewart.
Appointing security ambassadors, wide-scale training, focused
internal communications and rewarding employees that follow
etiquette correctly are just some of the initiatives Stewart
recommends CIOs take to change end-user views.
“There’s something to be said for stepping out from behind the
back-office veil and communicating with people,” says Stewart.
“Most IT security teams have yet to do this, and they’ve
subsequently been cast in a reactive, secretive light that hampers
their ability to prove to management that they can prevent
productivity and data losses.”