Governance, Risk and Compliance for the Real World Part 1: Understanding GRC The new realities of system complexity and user expectations IT organizations live in a very different world today than they did even a few years ago, a world with far higher user expectations and far more complexity. Let’s explore the key new realities. environment. Employees want the flexibility to work from anywhere at any time, and they increasingly rely on mobile devices for a wide range of work functions. More organizations are recognizing the productivity and cost advantages of enabling the flexible, mobile access employees want. They know that anytime, anywhere access is crucial to empowering geographically dispersed teams, and they recognize that how they support employees with technology will directly impact their ability to recruit and retain the best talent. An increasing number and variety of devices As a result, organizations are seeing far more devices connecting to their networks than ever before. A recent survey of 723 IT professionals performed by Dimensional Research and sponsored by Dell Software found, not surprisingly, Anytime, anywhere access is a requirement in today’s connected world Mobility is one of the defining trends of our time. The traditional model in which IT departments determine the technology issued to employees and implement policies strictly governing its use is no longer practical in today’s highly connected, mobile IT organizations live in a very different world today than they did even a few years ago, a world with far higher user expectations and far more complexity. that nearly all organizations have traditional devices like desktops, laptops, servers, and routers and switches on their corporate networks. But virtually all of them (99 percent) have other devices as well, including printers and scanners (96 percent), mobile devices (84 percent), telephonic devices such as IP phones (78 percent) and AV equipment (53 percent). Moreover, technology advancements and the emergence of the internet of things (IoT) are bringing a range of additional devices to corporate networks, such as scanners, kiosks, digital signage, badge readers and industry-specific devices, such as those for manufacturing or healthcare. Two other factors merit attention as well. First, in today’s corporate environments, a single individual might use multiple different devices in the course of day — perhaps a company-issued PC and a personal tablet or smartphone during the day and a laptop in the evening. Second, the devices themselves keep changing. Apple, Google and Microsoft release frequent operating system updates; existing smartphone, tablet and laptop vendors constantly introduce new models in a range of form factors; and new vendors are constantly entering the mobile marketplace with new devices. 3 © 2015 Dell, Inc. All rights reserved | Share: Higher user expectations Shadow IT is now the norm, not the exception User expectations have changed as dramatically as the endpoint landscape. Employees want the flexibility to choose the devices that best meet their needs, and in response, some organizations are adopting BYOD and CYOD programs to supplement corporate-issued devices. Users also expect instant communication and access to the same sorts of applications that help them to be effective in their personal life. For example, they increasingly view social networks as ideal tools for building work relationships and conducting business. Employees have always wanted quick response to their requests for new applications and services — and now the ready availability of quality commercial offerings often enables them to side-step IT protocols and get what they want themselves. New systems and applications are easier than ever to set up and maintain, which often results in more and more instances of shadow IT – for example, entire SharePoint installations that IT does not know about and therefore cannot protect. Unfortunately, many users are unaccustomed to thinking about issues like security and backups, or they are simply willing to sacrifice security for expediency. Employees also have strong expectations about ease of use and privacy. They want the same experience everywhere, no matter the device or operating system. And they don’t want their IT department to access personal social media posts or personal photos stored on the devices they use, whether they are corporateowned or personally owned. At the same time, they believe it is someone else’s responsibility to protect corporate information. 4 A more complex and decentralized data center Finally, even IT-owned systems are becoming more complex and less centralized. Traditional on-premises environments are being supplemented or even replaced with hosted, cloud and mobile technologies. And while stalwart systems like SQL Server and Oracle databases are not going away anytime soon, open-source databases — either on premises or in hosted environments — are being accepted as viable alternatives for new enterprise application development projects. © 2015 Dell, Inc. All rights reserved | Share: Please complete the form to gain access to this content Access Now Related Resources Choosing the Right Deduplication Solution for Your Organization Enabling Endpoint and Network Security with the SANS 20 Critical Security Controls THE REAL WORLD OF THE DATABASE ADMINISTRATOR The Essential DBA Playbook for Optimized SQL Server Management
The new realities of system complexity and user expectations IT organizations live in a very different world today than they did even a few years ago, a world with far higher user expectations and far more complexity. Let’s explore the key new realities. environment. Employees want the flexibility to work from anywhere at any time, and they increasingly rely on mobile devices for a wide range of work functions. More organizations are recognizing the productivity and cost advantages of enabling the flexible, mobile access employees want. They know that anytime, anywhere access is crucial to empowering geographically dispersed teams, and they recognize that how they support employees with technology will directly impact their ability to recruit and retain the best talent. An increasing number and variety of devices As a result, organizations are seeing far more devices connecting to their networks than ever before. A recent survey of 723 IT professionals performed by Dimensional Research and sponsored by Dell Software found, not surprisingly, Anytime, anywhere access is a requirement in today’s connected world Mobility is one of the defining trends of our time. The traditional model in which IT departments determine the technology issued to employees and implement policies strictly governing its use is no longer practical in today’s highly connected, mobile IT organizations live in a very different world today than they did even a few years ago, a world with far higher user expectations and far more complexity. that nearly all organizations have traditional devices like desktops, laptops, servers, and routers and switches on their corporate networks. But virtually all of them (99 percent) have other devices as well, including printers and scanners (96 percent), mobile devices (84 percent), telephonic devices such as IP phones (78 percent) and AV equipment (53 percent). Moreover, technology advancements and the emergence of the internet of things (IoT) are bringing a range of additional devices to corporate networks, such as scanners, kiosks, digital signage, badge readers and industry-specific devices, such as those for manufacturing or healthcare. Two other factors merit attention as well. First, in today’s corporate environments, a single individual might use multiple different devices in the course of day — perhaps a company-issued PC and a personal tablet or smartphone during the day and a laptop in the evening. Second, the devices themselves keep changing. Apple, Google and Microsoft release frequent operating system updates; existing smartphone, tablet and laptop vendors constantly introduce new models in a range of form factors; and new vendors are constantly entering the mobile marketplace with new devices. 3 © 2015 Dell, Inc. All rights reserved | Share: Higher user expectations Shadow IT is now the norm, not the exception User expectations have changed as dramatically as the endpoint landscape. Employees want the flexibility to choose the devices that best meet their needs, and in response, some organizations are adopting BYOD and CYOD programs to supplement corporate-issued devices. Users also expect instant communication and access to the same sorts of applications that help them to be effective in their personal life. For example, they increasingly view social networks as ideal tools for building work relationships and conducting business. Employees have always wanted quick response to their requests for new applications and services — and now the ready availability of quality commercial offerings often enables them to side-step IT protocols and get what they want themselves. New systems and applications are easier than ever to set up and maintain, which often results in more and more instances of shadow IT – for example, entire SharePoint installations that IT does not know about and therefore cannot protect. Unfortunately, many users are unaccustomed to thinking about issues like security and backups, or they are simply willing to sacrifice security for expediency. Employees also have strong expectations about ease of use and privacy. They want the same experience everywhere, no matter the device or operating system. And they don’t want their IT department to access personal social media posts or personal photos stored on the devices they use, whether they are corporateowned or personally owned. At the same time, they believe it is someone else’s responsibility to protect corporate information. 4 A more complex and decentralized data center Finally, even IT-owned systems are becoming more complex and less centralized. Traditional on-premises environments are being supplemented or even replaced with hosted, cloud and mobile technologies. And while stalwart systems like SQL Server and Oracle databases are not going away anytime soon, open-source databases — either on premises or in hosted environments — are being accepted as viable alternatives for new enterprise application development projects. © 2015 Dell, Inc. All rights reserved | Share:
