Mobility Benefits Outweigh Risks For 70% Indian Businesses

With the increase in smartphone usage, consumers are increasingly using their mobile devices for personal activities such as shopping and social networking, and professional activities such as accessing work emails and data.

The latest insights from the Norton Cybercrime Report 2012 confirmed that Indians rely heavily on their mobile devices, with 68 percent considering themselves to be addicted to them and 43 percent sharing that they would save their mobile devices from a fire. Businesses, too, are embracing mobility, with 7 in 10 Indian respondents to the Symantec State of Mobility Survey 2013 perceiving the benefits of mobility as equal to or outweighing the risks.

Some of the mobile insights from the Norton Cybercrime Report 2012 are:

Indians NEED THEIR MOBILE DEVICES

• 69 percent use their mobiles phones to connect to the Internet

• At 68 percent, Indians are the most addicted to their mobile phones across APAC

• If they could choose two items to save from a fire, 43 percent would save their mobile device

Indians PRACTICE GOOD MOBILE ONLINE HABITS on their mobile devices:

• 73 percent only download applications from trusted sources

• 73 percent never save important personal information

• 69 percent limit the sites they visit

• 65 percent use secure payment methods when making purchases

• 59 percent turn off or disallow geographic location tracking

Indians DO NOT USE MOBILE SECURITY SOLUTIONS

• 1 in 3 do not use passwords (29 percent)

• Almost 1 in 3 (32 percent) do not have a solution to lock, locate and wipe

• 2 in 5 (40 percent) do not use any mobile security solution, with 1 in 4 (24 percent) not aware of such solutions

• 1 out of 4 (23 percent) choose not to use any mobile security solution

Indians who had lost or had their mobile phones stolen DO NOT HAVE CONTROL

• Only 22 percent tried to locate their devices using tracking software

• Only 19 percent would wipe their devices using the web

• 48 percent had to call their mobile service provider to disable their device

Indian businesses ARE POSITIVE ABOUT MOBILITY

• 6 in 10 consider themselves to be “innovators” when it comes to technology

• 7 in 10, believe that the benefits of mobility are equal to or outweigh the risks

• 31 percent allow unrestricted social media use and collaboration among employees

Indian businesses EXPERIENCE MOBILITY RISKS

• 72 percent faced mobility incidents in the past 12 months

• 37 percent lost revenue due to mobility incidents

• 86 percent had to change policies due to incidents

• Affected businesses faced 50 malware infections, 44 spam incidents, 34 exposures of information, 31 breaches due to lost/stolen devices and 28 phishing/social engineering instances on average

• 1 in 3 experienced direct financial costs as a result of mobility incidents

Indian businesses PREPAREDNESS TO MANAGE MOBILITY

• 1 in 2 have taken measures to ensure employees adhere to policy guidelines

• 45 percent have ensured that mobile devices that connect to the network have proper safeguards installed

• 40 percent restrict mobile device usage through HR enforcement, and 38 percent use technology controls

• 55 percent say over half the devices are purchased by the organistion, and this is expected to increase by 5 percent in the next 12 months

However, in order to leverage the benefits while mitigating costs due to mobility risks, here are some tips for organisations to stay safe, and retain control over the information and data on their mobile devices:

• Start embracing mobility. Organisations should take a proactive approach and carefully plan an effective mobile implementation strategy.

• Start with the apps with greatest productivity benefits for employees. One of the best ways to get started is to implement apps that will have an immediate business impact.

• Learn from the innovators. Get the benefits while minimising risks. The key is to be aware of the risks associated with mobility such as information loss, and to follow the example of the innovators