In a world that moves to remote work: how can employers protect themselves from employees' smartphones?

By Avalon Siegel
September 17, 2020
9 min

In a reality in which more and more organizations are moving to permanently work from home, there is a growing need for cost-effective solutions that enable efficient work and a secure environment.

The spread of the Covid-19 has forced many companies to move to a completely different course of action than they have been accustomed to so far. The last few months have made working from home a necessity, and with it, many managers have been forced to manage their employees remotely.

Pros of Working From Home

The corona plague is still far from being under control, but it has highlighted the many benefits of working from home like cost savings for organizations, less time on the road for employees, and more. These have led quite a few organizations to announce their intention to allow their employees to work from home permanently, or at least for the long term.

82% of companies intend to allow work from home in some format, even when organizations begin to return to an office

As proof of the radical workforce shift, Twitter announced that it will allow any employee to work from home on a regular basis. Fujitsu followed in suit, informing its employees in Japan that working from home is a new reality. Other companies announced extending the work-from-home policy during the next year, including Intel which announced to all its employees around the world that they work from home until at least June 2021. In a recent survey conducted by Gartner, showed that 82% of companies intend to allow work from home in some format, even when organizations begin to return to an office, work routine.

Cons of Working From Home

But along with the many benefits of working from home, this work method can also place quite a few difficulties on organizations, especially for the efficient management of the work and the control of the information flowing out of the organization. Therefore, more and more organizations are searching for viable, management solutions, which can be divided into three options:

Installing the company’s control system on the employee’s personal phones better known as an MDM System
Distributing company telephones to employees and installing an MDM control system on all the devices
Installing the company’s virtual phones on top of the employees’ private phones, and managing them through an integrated management system

Wait, So What To Choose?

Quite a few organizations are already using these solutions on a regular basis to enable their employees to work from home and outside, as well as to continue working non-working hours. When considering choosing such a solution, it is important to pay attention to the pros and cons of each.

1. Installation of an employee control system for employees' mobile devices - MDM

Pros: This is a relatively inexpensive solution, which provides a significant improvement in the level of security of the organization and enables work from employees’ private phones. For a few dollars, it allows the employer to manage their employees.

Cons: The most significant disadvantage is the granting of sweeping authorizations to the company to all employee’s activity on their private cellular device. The employer actually enforces the organization’s policy on the employee’s private environment, to work-related such as email, access to folders, etc.

2. Distribution of company telephones to employees and installation of an MDM control system

Pros: This is usually seen as the most complete solution. The employee has a telephone for work, which not only creates a complete physical separation from the employee’s private affairs, but the device is secured and managed by the company, without the company having any contact with the employee’s private device.

Cons: First, this is the most expensive solution, as it requires the company to purchase telephones for the employees, take care of their regular maintenance and repair when needed, and on top of it all purchase MDM System services. For the employee, this is an inconvenience, as they have to walk around with two mobile phones at all times.

3. Creating an array of virtual phones managed by the company

Such systems make it possible to install a completely separate system on the employee’s mobile phone, which actually creates two separate mobile devices – one private and one work phone. On the same device, two separate systems with different features exist side by side, and without overlapping. Thus, the work system can include everything the organization defines within it – an internal messaging system, email, photo gallery, and a separate phone line, including lines for international calls – and allows tracking of what the employee does during work hours.

For the company, there is a significant financial savings, and for the employee, there is an added benefit of phone separation without the need to carry two devices.

Pros: Similar to the solution for the distribution of physical telephones, here too the company’s telephones constitute a separate, secured environment (with or without an additional telephone line) and managed by the company with them having any access to the employee’s private device. The significant advantage here is that the company does not purchase or maintain another mobile device. For the company, there is a significant financial savings, and for the employee, there is an added benefit of phone separation without the need to carry two devices.

Cons: This is a relatively new solution in the market, therefore most companies are not accustomed to using them.

Welcome to The New Reality

Remote work is an existing reality these days, and it seems to remain so even after a vaccine is found for corona. The understanding of more and more organizations that the most effective way to work from home is through advanced solutions, which enable a significant increase in security while reducing total costs, is expected to lead this market to a significant increase in activity in the coming years – from $ 11.3 billion in 2020 to $27.9 billion in 2025.

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Avalon Siegel

Project manager at Cubed Mobile, who knows everything about time management and tough deadlines

Avalon Siegel

Project manager at Cubed Mobile, who knows everything about time management and tough deadlines

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