A closer look at IT’s role in the BYOD world

As more and more employees incorporate their own devices in their work day, and as cloud becomes a more important factor in storage and unified communication, the role of internal IT departments is changing.

A new article by Rob Enderle for online technology publication CIO, asked the question, "in a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) world, is IT redundant?"

It's a valid concern. As more networking, storage and communication is moved into the cloud and BYOD becomes more prevalent, the traditional role of IT is shrinking. Individual user support is less likely as employees are using devices they already understand.

The one underlying theme for today's IT departments when it comes to the BYOD world is adaptability. While the need for a traditional tech support is becoming extinct, new challenges are emerging.

"Hope is not lost," Enderle writes, "Even in a BYOD world, the IT department can be relevant, though it might work a bit differently than before."

Enderle points out the need for technology experts when it comes to selecting devices and security concerns. BYOD opens the door for a number of protection issues, as remote employees have access to highly sensitive information anywhere they are.

IT departments need to adapt, because the trend of BYOB and cloud computing continues to grow. A recent Gartner survey found that 35 percent of all application access will originate from outside IT by 2015 and that 50 percent of companies will have mission-critical data in the cloud by 2016.

Business officials in Ohio that are concerned about their network security should partner with a Cincinnati IT consulting firm to discuss the more efficient option for their workplace..

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