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A group of Auckland doctors have been told they can't connect their iPhones to one of the city's major health IT networks.
The company that runs IT and other administrative services for the Waitemata and Counties Manukau District Health Boards, healthAlliance, is one of thousands of organisations around the world to ban staff from tapping into corporate networks using the iPhone.
Phil Brimacombe, healthAlliance's chief information officer, says the organisation receives regular requests from doctors wanting to connect iPhones and other mobile devices to its IT systems. But security risks, including the possibility of introducing viruses to the network, mean only a small number of approved devices, configured to healthAlliance's specifications, can be used by doctors to access clinical information systems.
"They [the doctors] are not wildly ecstatic about that but there is general acceptance that we do need to control the [computer systems] environment," says Brimacombe. "It's extremely difficult for them to provide care without those systems running, so everyone understands we need to minimise risk."
The growing phenomenon of staff wanting to bring their own gadgets into work, and the network risks it creates, is a challenge the IT security industry has dubbed the "consumerisation" of business IT.
It was one of the trends highlighted at security vendor Symantec's annual Australasian user conference, held in Sydney this week.
Craig Scroggie, Symantec's Pacific region managing director, told the conference the company's research showed younger workers tended to use personal devices to store work data even if their company had a policy prohibiting them from doing so.
"These employees may be the most productive businesses have ever recruited but they have a deep affinity for social networking, they have a loyalty to their mobile devices over corporate issued equipment, and they have an instinct for sharing information which poses challenges for us," Scroggie said. "There is a sizeable gap between corporate IT policies and behaviours and perspectives of workers, yet we are starting to recognise the challenges. We have to strike a balance between controlling the risks and offering the flexibility and choice to maximise employee productivity."
While some companies block access to sites like Facebook on the grounds that staff waste time using them, chief technology officer Mark Bregman said he used Facebook and younger workers expected it to be available.
"As this next generation workforce gets recruited into your company they expect to use the equipment and the applications that they are used to, that they want. And even if they have to buy it themselves they are going to go around you to do that. If you fight them they will simply sign on with your competitor."
Some companies were even encouraging new employees to log into their networks using technology they brought with them to the job, Bregman said. BP no longer supplied staff with company laptops, but paid them an allowance to buy their own, while at the same time putting network security measures in place.
Bregman said businesses should look at the consumerisation of IT as an opportunity to gain an advantage over their competitors.
"Give your employees the flexibility they want so you can attract the best and brightest talent. Look at it as a way to get at the collaboration and productivity benefits that have been driven to a large extent by consumers and bring those back inside the enterprise."
* Simon Hendery travelled to Sydney as a guest of Symantec.
