Our Business

Changing the way we work

By the Team on 11 April 2008

SAN FRANCISCO, USA – The days of relying on having an office to stay in touch with colleagues is thankfully, going the way of the dodo. More companies are opening up to flexible working, mobility, and ensuring employees are where they’re most beneficial (hint: it’s usually not behind a desk).

Making employees mobile however brings with it a whole raft of
challenges for corporate security – keeping data safe AND accessible to
those who need it is no easy task.

Andy Buss, Principle Analyst with specialist hi-tech industry analysts Canalys, says

‚ÄúThere has been a huge shift to mobile computing and a blurring of the boundaries between personal and corporate computing. Users are connecting to unmanaged personal and public networks. Online threats often silently compromise many computers. Many companies are moving to converged networks running critical communications services such as voice and video. Being able to respond to these challenges while reducing the cost and complexity of securing it all will be critical.‚Äù

Nokia has been working with intrusion and detection specialists, Sourcefire to develop the latest in a range of networking equipment designed to enable mobile working whilst keeping business critical information out of the hands of intruders. Together the companies recently launched their latest product, the Nokia IP2450 Intrusion Prevention with Sourcefire. Tom McDonnagh, President and COO of Sourcefire says

‚ÄúBy combining a great platform such as the Nokia multi-gigabyte sensor with the award-winning Sourcefire software, we are enabling customers to discover, block and proactively defend against emerging threats.‚Äù

If you’re a mobile worker, we’d like to hear from you – get in touch.

Photo from Popcorncx

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Tags | employees, mobile, productivity, work

Post a comment

PhoneBoy Says:
April 15th, 2008 at 10:40 am

Security is a number of things: products, best practices, and most of all, diligence of the end user.

Antoine of MMM/Brighthand Says:
April 15th, 2008 at 5:12 pm

I definitely agree that with the shift to mobile that IT departments need to think differently about security and accessibility. For many departments, that will mean tearing down a lot of what is in place for stationary workers in order to make mobility a possibility.

I think though that with capable enough devices that most people in knowledge-based professions would have no problem being mostly mobile. The ability to get work done would hinge more on personal accountability and responsibility than so much the traditional taskmaster-minions methodology that many offices operate in.

That being said, IT departments will also have to make sure that some level of socialization can also be had by those who prefer to work mobile. While being able to be out of the office is good; having a successful team environment means that people do need to interact with one another. Video and conference calls; shared workspaces, and face-to-face meeting times can all help there.

I am a solo worker; therefore, I use mobility as a means to get out and connect with people. Exposing my style of mobile working to them offers the chance for me to constant reflect and refine how I am working with mobile devices and services to better utilize the technology.