Wireless at Work

Productivity is no longer limited to the desk. It happens in the hallways, at lunch, and at home. Today’s mobile users, accustomed to relying on smart phones, tablets and the ability to work from anywhere, conducts an array of crucial business activities via wireless mobile devices.

To take advantage of these productivity benefits, adoption of mobile applications continues to gain ground. Mobile applications and networks are a higher priority for IT, and spending on mobile networks continues to increase. Wireless systems are a rapidly growing component of your organization’s technology platform that requires special attention.

Investing in mobility means building wireless networks in the areas you control and enabling third-party wireless integrations everywhere else. The parts of the network you own need to work with the parts of the network you don’t control, and extending quality and security to devices on mobile networks is quite a task.

A mobile device is an organizational asset that is always on the move. It contains valuable software and firmware that needs to be configured, tracked and managed. The greatest benefit of these devices—mobility—presents a tremendous challenge from an IT management perspective.

Helpful Tips

• When building wireless networks in areas in which you can install hardware, be sure to conduct an assessment to get a clear picture of the coverage you will need. Underestimating wireless coverage can result in dead zones and poor network performance, while overestimating can be an even costlier mistake.
• Consider how your organization can improve mobile data security. Data transported on any unencrypted mobile device—including laptops, handheld devices, smart phones, and USB drives is a potential security risk. Ensure you employ a strong password policy, and consider additional security layers like full disk encryption and remote lock/wipe across all types of mobile devices.