I recently sold my mobile device and had to manage for a day without a phone when my replacement got delayed in shipment. Being away from my phone for 24 hours made me realize that smartphones have become such an integral part of our lives. I missed everything from social interactions, checking emails, chatting with friends, checking the time and — last but not least — making calls.

The next thought that passed through my mind was about all the data that I had accumulated on my phone, such as contacts, messages, pictures, videos, music, files, maps and locations, etc. Luckily, I had backed up everything on the cloud and it was a simple step to get it ported onto my new mobile device.

More Data, More Problems

There is a lot of data that we store and access on our trusted mobile device. It’s even used by organizations to target us with personalized advertisements and sales calls. This can be attributed to advances in mobile computing prowess and mobile networks that support high-speed data transfer. Because mobile devices are being used not only for personal communication but for business as well, security has become a primary concern.

Now imagine this scenario from an organization’s standpoint. Employees access personal and official enterprise data on their phones, making the risk of data breach or loss a serious one. With more and more companies being pressured by employees to enable bring-your-own-device (BYOD), they need to ensure that mobile security is being examined at an organization-wide level.

How Can We Secure a Mobile Device?

To secure these devices and protect against data leakage, companies are turning to enterprise mobility management (EMM). EMM solutions should include the enrollment and provisioning of devices, the monitoring of security policies and configuration compliance and the ability to locate the device and remotely wipe corporate data from it. But a holistic mobile security strategy doesn’t stop there. It must also consider content-, application- and access-related risks.

This is definitely an exciting time for companies in the mobile security business. As more business processes and applications go mobile, the demand for greater security measures will also go up. This is a win-win scenario for end users as well as companies. As mobile devices get more powerful, their impact on the way companies do business will be massive.

To learn more on how organizations can protect devices, join our webinar on Aug. 27, “Surviving the Mobile Phenomenon: Protecting Devices Without Disrupting the User Experience.”