Introduction

Before the pandemic, not all employees had the privilege to access organizational networks from the comfort of their homes. But in response to the coronavirus pandemic, most of the organizations asked their employees to work from home. 

With the majority of employees working remotely, businesses came across the challenges of managing and securing mobile devices. These devices access organizational networks and databases from outside the office premises. Thus, these devices pose an open threat to the overall organizational security.

Let’s have a look at some interesting numbers before we delve deeper.

• According to an analysis by IBM, companies with more than 60% of their employees working remotely had a greater average data breach cost than companies without remote workers. 
• A cyberattack occurs every 39 seconds, according to a study by the University of Maryland.

What conclusions do you draw from the data presented above? 

Cyberattacks are real and they are impacting businesses more than ever before. Unmanaged technology and the proliferation of mobile devices used for work are to blame.

But mobile work culture and mobile devices are here to stay! They aren’t going anywhere owing to the flexibility and ease of use. 

Risks Associated with Unmanaged Home Office Devices

1. Security threats and data leaks

Security is one of the topmost concerns ahead of enterprises today. When devices utilized across an organization aren’t adequately controlled, they’re vulnerable to outside threats. When a company isn’t properly protected from outside threats, all of its intellectual property is at risk. 

One of the most serious corporate hazards connected with unmanaged devices is inadequate mobile device security. These unmanaged home office devices pose a great risk to corporate data security. When devices are left unmanaged, an enterprise’s security is under threat and the likelihood of a cyberattack is much greater. 

2. Hampered Brand Reputation

With every breach, it’s not only the data that is compromised, but it leaves a negative impact on the overall brand reputation. Customers and vendors start mistrusting the organization based on security grounds which impacts the revenue and business growth throughout. 

3. Risks related to device theft

Employees access corporate emails, files, folders and business plans through their unmanaged mobile devices. When such devices get stolen, it causes a great risk to the corporate servers and databases as the sensitive corporate data remains unencrypted. Crucial business information might fall into wrong hands, which can be potentially hazardous. It becomes very difficult for the businesses to recover from such losses as they can’t be undone.

Employees use their unmanaged mobile devices to access corporate emails, files, folders and business plans. On such unmanaged devices, sensitive corporate data remains unencrypted. 

When unmanaged devices are lost or stolen they pose a significant risk to the whole corporate network. Important corporate information can fall in the wrong hands, which could be potentially hazardous. Businesses find it difficult to recover from such losses because they cannot be reversed completely.

4. Cost related risks

Using unmanaged devices carries financial concerns in addition to security threats. It might be nearly impossible to monitor a large number of unmanaged devices. Studies suggest that costs associated with cybercrimes are much more in comparison to buying an efficient mobility management solution for your organization. 

As a business, the need of the hour is to manage your employees’ unmanaged home office devices with the help of an effective and efficient mobile device management strategy. 

Tips to Manage Your Employees’ Unmanaged Devices

Here are a few things you can do to have a better handle on the fleet of devices that employees use at home. 

1. Do a risk assessment

The first and the most important step is to gain insights on how, why and whether you need a mobile device management solution for your unmanaged endpoints? What value does it add to your business? 

Do a thorough self-risk assessment. Identify what all remote assets you wish to secure. Analyze and plan ahead. Think about various solutions that can provide the much-needed data and network security as your employees work from home. 

2. Implement a BYOD and remote access policy

Assessing your risks, implementing a BYOD and remote access policy and choosing an MDM solution is an excellent starting point. As a business, implementing a robust BYOD and remote access policy will save you from a lot of troubles beforehand. 

3. Supply pre-provisioned devices to your employees

The only way to know for sure which equipment your employees are using is to provide it to them. 

This gives you more control and provides peace of mind for the security of the organization, as well as more control over ongoing costs to print. You can pre-provision devices and ship them directly to your employees. You can leverage Google’s Zero-touch Enrollment for Android or Apple Business Manager/Device Enrollment Program (DEP) for iOS to provision the devices.

4. Encourage employees to enroll on their own

Employees can enroll devices that aren’t registered in MDM on their own with only a little supervision. Send an enrollment message to your customers through email or text message, along with clear instructions. Explain that this will allow them to execute their work more effectively while also increasing the security of their devices and the organization. You can always go with MDM that enables you to access out of the box experience.

5. Educate your employees on cyber-hygiene

Today, everyone talks about personal hygiene. But are we bothered about cyber-hygiene? Employees are the ones who make or break a business. Most of them are unaware of probable risks associated with their unmanaged devices.

Ensuring that the brains that work for your business are well-educated about cyber issues does more than half the job! Employees should be made aware of the cybercrimes and possible consequences associated. 

6. Enroll your devices in a corporate MDM

As a company, you want to expand and establish a reputation that is superior to your competitors. But, have you ever thought about what is that one factor that is helping your contemporaries reach where you’re not able to reach? 

The answer is they are working meticulously on their mobile device management strategy.

Make sure you secure your mobile devices and endpoints with an effective MDM solution. Even if your staff and devices are at the home office, enrolling them in an MDM platform is not too late.

Wrapping Up

When a company leaves its devices unmanaged, it risks losing not only its security but also its intellectual property, precious data, a tarnished reputation among customers and employees and a dwindling bottom line. 

Prevention is always better than cure. If you don’t already have an MDM to manage your unmanaged mobile devices, now is the time to get one that suits your industry-specific needs.

The above-mentioned tips will absolutely help to manage your employees’ unmanaged home office devices and will eventually ensure your success as a business that supports mobility. 

Author bio- 

Malvika Sinha is a Sr.Content Writer at Scalefusion MDM solution. A post-graduate in Psychology, Malvika has diverse experience in content curation and strategy. She can be best described as a focused professional, a fitness enthusiast, and a music-lover