A How To For Corporate Cloud Adoption
In our last post on Cloud Computing, we covered why the Cloud is actually more secure than locally stored data. The article can be reached by following this link, “The Fallacy of Cloud Computing Solutions”. At the end of the article we delved into how the Cloud is making corporate environments safer from both exterior attacks and internal leaks. Well, in this posting we are going to dive into how companies can go about making the Cloud predominant in the work space.
1. The BYOD Movement is Finally Here
The BYOD movement, the Bring Your Own Device movement, has been, for the past few years been creeping into the work place. With the advancement in cellular and tablet technologies, consumers are purchasing mobile devices at a record high (supplanting the desk top as a soon to be relic) and utilizing those devices for both their personal and work life.
Now, for a lot of companies, the BYOD movement poses a risk. Do you let company employees use their own device at work, possibly causing massive security breaches or do you supply them with company devices which can be taken away when the employee leaves the company? It’s a good question, but it’s the wrong question.
The right question for corporate Cloud adoption is how can we, the company, get our employees to use their personal devices for work purposes? How can we get employees to integrate their personal device with their work life? The answer is simple, give them unlimited access to the corporate Cloud infrastructure. But why?
– Employees who use their own devices are happier. Instead of having to use a company device and a personal device causing employees to split their personal/work lives, employees who use their own device are happier because they have access to both work and personal at the same time.
– The Work/Life Balance. This is a topic which a lot of companies, executives and employees talk about. The work/life balance. By allowing employees to use their own device, by encouraging the BYOD movement, the work/life balance shifts and becomes blurred. The more and more an employee can check their Facebook account or handle important personal business at work, the more and more that person can also handle work matters while home. By eliminating the idea of, “company device for work, personal device for home” companies enable their employees to blur the line between work/life and in the process, make the more productive.
– Productivity. This is what it’s all about right? Companies want their employees to be as productive as possible. Did you know that over 90% of workers who use a smart mobile device check their email in bed first thing in the morning and last thing before bed? Did you know that mobile workers (road warriors) who operate solely from mobile devices (laptops, tablets, smart phones) on average, work for 240 hours per year than their desk bound brethren? Those stats, found in Cisco, Gartner and iPass studies, show workers who are allowed to use their mobile devices are more productive workers and in turn, better for a company’s bottom dollar.
2. Secure the Private Cloud but do Not Limit Access
We get it. We understand companies who utilize a Private Cloud deployment are deploying their Private Cloud because they have important data which they want to keep behind company firewalls. We understand privacy of data and security of data is paramount. However when it comes corporate Cloud adoption, companies who truly want to ensure data security will provide full access to the corporate Private Cloud to all their employees. Companies need to provide so much access that employees forget that they are using the Cloud. Companies need to make data in the Private Cloud so accessible to company employees that company employees never think to backup important company data. With the data always being accessible by the Cloud, why would you need to store anything locally? It’s always there. It’s always up and running.
By making data so accessible within the corporate walls, employees have no need to download and store anything locally. Thus, when the employee seeks to leave or is let go of, none of the important Cloud stored data goes missing, i.e. lands in the hands of a competitor.
3. The End of the Road
So, let’s say you have done all that. Let’s say you’re a company who encourages the BYOD movement. Let’s say you’re a company who gives employees full access to the corporate Private Cloud wherever they are limiting/eliminating the need for locally stored data. Let’s say you have managed to fully incorporate and adopt the Cloud into your corporation. Now the question becomes, how do you secure that access and if need be, shut off that access?
– When it comes to securing access to your Private Cloud, the security of an automated private Cloud deployment firewall is an obvious need. The firewall, established with a closed-by-default approach wherein network ports are opened only when called for and for only as long as they need to be, sits firmly between external and internal access ensuring security. This said, the continued security of your private Cloud depends on how employees access data, not where. This is where VPN’s come in. Without going to deep into the tunneling protocols involved, a VPN allows employees access to corporate data by accessing the corporate network in a closed secure tunnel. This tunnel limits outside access and has no public facing connections to leak data. For company employees accessing the corporate Cloud while on the road or while sitting at home, the use of a VPN secures information and ensures packeted data does not reach the larger interwebs and end up on the front page of the Washington Post.
– Now, to shutting off access. This answer is much simpler than setting up a VPN or ensuring the security of your corporate Cloud. With company employees using their own device, the simple answer to shutting off access is simply locking their device out of the network. Call it the end of the line, call it the kill switch, call it a termination valve, with employees plugged into the Cloud, all corporations have to do to shut off access is pull the proverbial plug out of the jack. Eliminate access and remote wipe the device of any corporate data, apps, solutions which they have stored on the network. This means corporate information, ongoing projects, corporate phone book, contacts etc. All corporate information gone with the click of a button. Simple. Easy.
So, you got it? How to successfully adopt Cloud solutions in the corporate space? Encourage the BYOD (Bring Your Own Device Movement). Secure the Private Cloud without limiting access to employees. Control access worldwide through packet tunneling protocols and maintain a global off/remote wipe button.
Now, get to it.