UK - Ovum - Bring-your-own: software as big a problem as devices

Much has been written about the consumerisation of IT, one of the most transformational trends to have affected enterprise IT in recent times. consumerisation is frequently considered synonymous with employees bringing their own devices into the corporate environment.

However, Ovum’s ongoing research into software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications indicates that the current availability of applications relevant to individuals and small groups seriously compounds the bring-your-own issue, and introduces a host of new problems and opportunities.

Good range of applications grows risk of bring-your-own-software (BYOS)

The enterprise software market offers a good range of software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools sold under the “freemium” model or at a low enough price for individuals and small groups to procure through departmental budgets or with the corporate credit card.

Certain software markets are at a higher risk of bring-your-own than others. Productivity software, contact management, salesforce automation (SFA), collaboration, file storage, expense management, time tracking, and project management are at greater risk of experiencing BYOS.

Two aspects are key to whether a particular software market is at significant risk of BYOS:

If a tool offers value to the individual user before a critical mass of usage has been reached, or even before anybody else has used the tool. For example, a contact management or SFA tool can provide significant value to an individual sales person even if nobody else uses the tool. Task management tools are similar. In comparison, a supply chain execution (SCE) solution would be of little use if nobody else is using the tool.

If it is not necessary to agree on standards (processes, naming conventions, and so on) to derive value from the tool. When standards are necessary a neutral authority has to step in to build consensus, and develop those standards into the tool. Most often that group is IT. The traditional enterprise software sales approach is likely to be more viable in such cases, and the market is unlikely to have many successful vendors operating on the freemium and BYOS model.

BYOS introduces a number of challenges over and above standard SaaS application risks

Key SaaS risks revolve around two broad categories.

The first involves possible violations of government and industry body regulations protecting personally identifiable information and other types of sensitive data.

The second category covers jurisdiction on the physical location of stored information. BYOS tools increase the magnitude of risk across both categories as these vendors are typically not familiar with large enterprise requirements or accommodating the interests of such companies through custom contracts and custom operational arrangements. For example, the typical BYOS vendor is unlikely to allow individual customers to audit its operations. The BYOS vendor is also less likely to offer a custom contract that prohibits data from being transferred across national borders.

The other major challenge with BYOS tools is that feature sets essential for ensuring accountability and continuity in high-scale environments could be missing. Integration with lightweight directory access protocol (LDAP), archival options, and audit trails are examples of such feature sets.

It’s not all bad news; BYOS can be co-opted

BYOS is not without its advantages. The advent of BYOS provides the unprecedented opportunity to base technology selection decisions on hard data on what has actually worked in practice.

Also, not all BYOS vendors want to operate under the radar; they differ considerably on their level of enterprise focus. Ovum’s research in this area indicates that for almost every software category, there would be a vendor that offers the right certifications, custom contracts, and feature sets such as LDAP, the option to export data, and audit trails.

Recommendations for enterprises

The process of drafting a BYOS policy needs to be informed by the realization that corporate IT has little control over the entire application access process. The device could easily be employee-owned and the access technology could be 3G or a Wi-Fi network outside of office premises. In a widely cited 2003 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Steve Jobs said about the music piracy problem: “You’ll never stop that. So what you have to do is compete with it.” 

IT organisations therefore need to adopt an app store approach to providing alternatives to inappropriate BYOS tools. There are two defining aspects of the app store – the process of finding the right app must be easy and the range of apps available must make it likely that the most appropriate app will be available. Ovum believes both are non-negotiable. If the enterprise app store is not easy and convenient, the employee or the departmental manager will inevitably go back to procuring software with the corporate credit card or by simply sign up to “freemium” BYOS

BYOS tools cannot be accessible to groups that handle information protected by regulations, and such groups need to be educated that use of such tools is unacceptable. Also, the risk that the combination of BYOS and employee-owned devices poses to data security norms should force corporate IT to re-evaluate removable storage device policies and data access policies in general.

Somak Roy

publictechnology.net

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