Employers have to get smart over mobile and smartphone technology that can empower their business and exploit security vulnerabilities at the same time.

Unlike computers, the nature of a smartphone means they are out and about and available all the time.

Wise employers need to set up two smartphone policies –

• Security – to protect personal and business critical data

• Personal usage – to let an employee know why they have the phone and what to do with it

Dealing with opportunist data access if a phone is lost or stolen and more determined hacking fall in to the realm of the IT department. They should be able to set up password protection and more secure software firewalls and the like to prevent network intruders.

Personal usage policies are more complicated.

The temptation for many is to blur the working day in to personal time by carrying a work smartphone out-of-hours.

In most cases, it’s better to separate work and private usage by encouraging employees to buy their own phone for personal use.

Next, ring-fence working hours for everyone and deter employees from calling colleagues who are not on duty. Research shows employees who are umbilically connected to their desk by phone are more stressed and less refreshed when they return from leave than those who can break their connection.

How time is spent on a smartphone is important as well. Someone can look really busy tapping their smartphone when they are really updating their Facebook pages rather than contacting clients.

Leaving smartphone policies open-ended is inviting all sorts of problems.

On the one hand, employers want to leverage this new age of easy, instant communication, but on the other need to consider the effect on their day to day activities.

For instance, an organisation needs a policy about someone with a smartphone accessing a sensitive area where they could photograph documents, record a meeting or download data.

For many, the new way of working smarter is means managing mobile technology effectively.

This article is filed under : Technology, smartphones, android, Iphone, Legal, Leadership, Minorities, Equality Act 2010, equality strands, Protected charactersitcs, Role models

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