Everything You Need to Know About BYOA

Bring Your Own App or BYOA refers to the growing trend of employees using third-party apps and cloud services in the office. BYOA is happening across all industries and company sizes, but is especially pronounced in small and medium businesses with 11-100 employees. Similar to BYOD (Bring your Own Device), BYOA workplaces are expected to become the norm in coming years. In fact, 81% of SMBs already report having a BYOA presence.1

1: LogMeIn, Managing Applications in the Age of BYOA, http://solutions.logmein.com/BYOA/managing-applications-in-the-age-of-BYOA-report-part-1.html

What is BYOA?

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It is being driven by the business itself.

IT departments have traditionally determined employee software and technology, but this relationship is changing. Employees are now finding the newest cutting edge applications first and introducing them into their work environments.

Employees expect apps to be easy to use and work across multiple devices. When they discover a tool that solves a pain point better than the company offering, employees don’t think twice about using it in the office regardless of company policy.

Why BYOA isn’t going anywhere

The popularity of the iPhone led IT departments to adapt policies and infrastructure that were set up solely for Blackberries, and employee demand has similarly led to the adoption of tools like Dropbox and Yammer.

Many companies have recognized that technology and applications chosen by employees increase overall productivity and also reduce cost.

What are the benefits of BYOA?

A major reason behind BYOA’s predicted staying power is that the expected impact is largely positive. Some of the key benefits of BYOA discussed by company leaders include:

1 Increased Productivity. Employees are more productive and have an easier time collaborating with colleagues when they have the ability to choose the cloud apps that are best suited to their jobs.

2 Empowers Office Mobility. BYOA fits the modern cloud centric workplace. Employees are able to sync data across mobile-friendly apps which supports on-the-go working styles.

2: CloudEntr, 8 Ways BYOA is Changing the Workplace, https://app.box.com/s/4gitjjczz7p3fqla5mx6

There is a reduced need for training new employees because they get to use the tools that they are most comfortable with.4

5 This is an opportunity to better align IT services with the needs from the business. Key areas where employees are choosing their own apps are: social, sync & share, productivity, collaboration, and remote access.2 These areas are essential to the agility of flexible, team-oriented workplaces where employees are not co-located, but need to seamlessly collaborate.

Reduce Costs. The costs for cloud applications are significantly lower than bulky enterprise licensing, and companies can save money by discontinuing support for internal apps that no one is using.

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3: LogMeIn, Managing Applications in the Age of BYOA, http://solutions.logmein.com/BYOA/managing-applications-in-the-age-of-BYOA-report-part-1.html

There are many advantages of having a BYOA culture, but IT is unable to keep up with the number of cloud applications in their company, creating both security and user management challenges. On average, IT professionals underestimate cloud app usage by 7x. And, 64% of the time, employees are bringing in apps where a solution already exists.3

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Is BYOA a blindspot for IT?

When applications are used inside organizations without explicit approval, it means IT doesn’t know who is sharing corporate data or where it is being shared. This is often referred to as Shadow IT, and it’s leading companies to rethink how they manage BYOA.

The challenge is clear: How does IT meet the needs of the business while still adhering to security and compliance standards?

“If I were to take a hard line and say ‘no shadow IT,’ I’m not going to be adding any value for my business partners, and it will create resentments and wreck relationships. Moreover, many of the most innovative ideas for high-value productivity applications come from workers in the field.”4

“”– Todd Coombes, CIO at insurer CNO

4: Computerworld, The upside of shadow IT, http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9226415/The_Upside_of_Shadow_IT

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With the reality of BYOA, many companies are recognizing that there is no turning back. These organizations quickly realize the benefits of empowering employees to introduce tools that fit their needs. At the same time, business and IT management also need to prepare for challenges ahead of time.

The following steps will help keep corporate data secure in a BYOA workplace without creating roadblocks for employees.

4 Ways to Embrace BYOA Securely

2 Focus on managing applications, not devices. Instead of worrying about controlling every device employees use in the work environment, focus on managing applications. This makes your job easier to achieve without infringing on employee productivity and keeps your focus on what is most important: how to protect corporate data accessed through employee applications.

1 Embrace the cloud. Organizations should take advantage of the cost savings and agility offered by cloud applications. Whether your company is just starting to consider moving to the cloud or looking to take control of unsanctioned cloud apps in the corporate environment, you should approach cloud apps as a strategic move by your organization to help achieve its goals. An important stat to keep in mind: 57% of cloud users maintain that the cloud has improved their security.5

5: Mimecast, online survey, http://www.mimecast.com/resources/press-releases/dates/2010/2/70-percent-of-companies-using-cloud-based-services-plan-to-move-additional-applications-to-the-cloud-in-the-next-12-months/

4 Maintain visibility into the technologies and applications in your company’s network. Employees are using devices and applications regardless of organizational policy, so companies must be proactive and encourage responsible use. An Identity Management platform gives IT visibility into the apps employees are using in the workplace, optimizes SaaS usage, and aids in compliance audits.

3 Require secure credentials (passwords) for your users. Use a single-sign-on (SSO) password solution to enhance security. IT can implement a centralized sign-on dashboard with two factor authentication for all web and cloud applications ensuring the most secure access to all apps that employees use for work, from any device.

Key Takeaways: Forward thinking leaders recognize the value of the BYOA workplace but understand they need help overcoming the challenges. Prioritizing worker agility will deliver the competitive advantage needed to be successful in the cloud era.

Bitium empowers companies and people to realize the full potential of web and cloud applications. With Bitium, IT can centrally manage access to apps across all users, while providing employees with one click access to their apps from one place.

Protect your apps and data by eliminating the need to remember multiple passwords for both business and personal apps, and empowering employees to use stronger passwords. For IT, Bitium automates the provisioning workflow and delivers insight on your entire organization’s app and password usage, so they can take immediate action to improve security.

Bitium is designed for organizations that want to leverage all the flexibility and productivity cloud apps deliver, without compromising security.

What is Bitium?