By Rick McCharles, RIC Services
It was about five years ago, shortly after the release of the first iPhone, that I first became familiar with the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend. Of course, the term hadn't been coined yet but one of my clients was asking for guidance on how to control what was happening in his organization. As the CIO of a hospital he was quite concerned that doctors were dumping their corporate assigned mobile phones and were using their own iPhones instead. Worse still, some of the doctors were buying and using their own iPhone Apps to assist them in their duties.
I realized then that BYOD would be an unstoppable trend and that IT leaders would need to adapt. The CIO's concerns with respect to security, privacy and liability were valid but unfortunately, at that time I couldn't point to a solution to address his concerns.