The IT departments at these enterprises are struggling to strike a balance between mobile benefits and risks by transforming their approach to mobility to deliver improved business agility, increased productivity, and workforce effectiveness.
For its State of Mobility Survey, Symantec commissioned Applied Research to poll 6,275 organizations in 43 countries.
For the smartphones and tablets currently in use, 70% of those surveyed expected to see increased employee productivity, yet 77% actually saw productivity gains after implementing. Furthermore, 59% of respondents are now relying on mobile devices for line-of-business applications.
At the same time, mobility is challenging IT departments. Almost half (48%) of respondents mentioned that mobility is somewhat to extremely challenging, while two thirds noted that reducing the cost and complexity is one of their top business objectives.
Around three out of four organizations indicate maintaining a high level of security is a top business objective for mobility, and 41% identified mobile devices as one of the top three IT risks, making it the leading risk cited by IT.
Security concerns include lost and stolen devices, data leakage, unauthorized access to corporate resources, and the spread of malware infections from mobile devices to the company network.
“There are risks that impact the organizations that are looking at mobility as a method for improved productivity and job satisfaction. The biggest risk that organizations face is loss of data….That is the most common reason why IT and C-level executives are concerned about mobility”, said Rob Greer, vice president of product management in Symantec’s endpoint and mobility group.
“The most common way in which mobile is a risk from a security perspective is loss of device and the device not having any protection”, Greer told Infosecurity. “You have organizations looking at mobile device management and secure container technologies so that they can at least have a level of security” they had with corporate-owned devices, he added.
The cost of mobile security incidents can be significant, the Symantec study found. The average annual cost of mobile incidents for enterprises – including data loss, damage to the brand, productivity loss, and loss of customer trust – was $429,000 per enterprise. The average annual cost of mobile incidents for small businesses was $126,000.
To improve mobile security, the Symantec report recommends that organizations implement password, wipe, and application blocking policies and focus on the information, where it is viewed, transmitted and stored. Integrating mobile devices with existing data loss prevention, encryption, and authentication policies will ensure consistent corporate and regulatory compliance, the report concluded.