PERSONNEL MATTERS: Using smartphone for work? 5 things to know

By Jessica Reeves, Crain News Service

CHICAGO (April 19, 2013) — Once upon a time, almost everyone carried two mobile devices.

One device—usually a PDA, and very often a BlackBerry—was for work, and the other was for personal use. The practice was unwieldy and sometimes inconvenient, but there was an upside: It created a clear delineation between our work lives and our home lives.

Today, work-only mobile devices are fading swiftly into history in the face of a proliferation of smartphones that live up to their name and an increasingly mobile workforce.

In a 2012 survey by Coalfire Systems Inc., a Louisville, Colo.-based IT compliance and governance firm, 84 percent of respondents said they use the same mobile device for personal use and work. Many employers have seen the writing on the wall and are allowing—even encouraging—workers to use their personal devices for firing off official memos and keeping track of the kids' soccer practice.

It sounds like a win-win proposal: more convenient for employees, better access and fewer costs for employers. That is, until you consider another notable finding in the CoalFire survey: More than half of the respondents reported that their companies had not established a usage policy for mobile devices. That figure was confirmed in a survey conducted in March by Lombard, Ill.-based Single Path, a technology solutions firm. The Single Path survey also found that 44 percent of Chicago employees' smartphones are not password protected.

Together, these numbers create a recipe for any number of high-profile disasters: data leaks, security breaches—not to mention the possibility of your very personal information finding its way into the wrong hands. And while there haven't been any (publicized) breaches yet, it's just a matter of time before a major security incident makes big news, according to Ken Garcia, sales director of educational services at Single Path.

"There's a lot of concern," he said. "The question isn't whether there's going to be a security breach, but rather when."

That doesn't mean you shouldn't use your personal mobile device for work, said Dan Speck, director of technology consulting at Burwood Group, a Chicago-based consulting firm specializing in technology and business strategy.

It simply means you need to ensure everyone's security by following a few steps:

1. Know your company's security concerns. "If you work in a heavily regulated industry, and there's a lot of confidential information that's subject to requirements and compliance," said Mr. Speck, your company may not be able to allow you to use your personal device for work.

2. Understand your employer's mobile use policy. That's assuming a policy exists. "Most organizations don't have a BYOD [bring-your-own-device] policy," Mr. Garcia said. "They haven't established the corporate stance or questions of liability." (As in: Who's to blame if sensitive information is stolen along with an employee's iPhone?) If your employer has a policy in place, Mr. Speck said, "find out what's allowed. Just because you can figure out how to get on your company's network from your iPad doesn't mean you're allowed to do it."

3. Be realistic about your privacy. "There's some expectation of privacy, but when you agree to use your personal device for work, you need to relax some of those expectations," Mr. Speck said. Your IT department requires access to your device in order to verify it and link it to the company's network, Mr. Garcia said.

4. Acknowledge the limitations of overburdened IT departments. When everyone used a BlackBerry for work, the guy at the IT desk understood that technology inside and out. Today, Mr. Garcia said, "everyone keeps getting new devices and there's an expectation of instant productivity. IT departments are playing catch-up. They're reacting," not planning ahead. In short, Mr. Speck said, they're overwhelmed. "When employees bring in their own devices, it introduces a much wider range of technology," Mr. Speck said. "You just won't get the same support." Most companies, said Mr. Garcia, won't take calls about personal iPads or iPhones. "They'll provide set-up documentation and leave the employees to fend for themselves."

Cisco took that trend one step further, Mr. Garcia said. Employees are free to request (company-issued) Apple computers rather than the traditional PCs. But the company only provides IT support for PCs—employees who choose Apple rely a companywide, employee-run tech-support community. Cisco employees are happy with their new tech support system, Mr. Garcia said, and continue to abandon their PCs in favor of Macs.

5. Accept ownership of your device. "Keep a close eye on your device," Mr. Speck said. "If you lose it, you've potentially lost not just your own personal data, but also your employer's." And remember: If it's your device, you're responsible for any repair and replacement costs.

This report appeared in Crain's Chicago Business magazine, a sister publication of Tire Business.