BYOD coming to Hampshire this autumn

BYOD coming to Hampshire this autumn

County council lays the security groundwork ahead of a full scale bring your own device deployment

Hampshire county council is to begin rolling out a bring your own device (BYOD) scheme later this year.

The council has already begun trialling a programme of allowing staff to use personal devices for business tasks with a view to a wider implementation across the organisation in the autumn.

The trial is investigating what additional layers of security are needed to support the BYOD roll out, according to Jos Creese, Hampshire county coucil's CIO.

"There has to be a level of security that is appropriate to a mobile device. In my view that will be some sort of app, let's say, on a mobile phone that will ensure the segmentation of data and the ability to wipe it if necessary, if that device gets lost, for example," he told Guardian Government Computing.

BYOD will be used to facilitate remote working at the council, but will not be available to all staff by default.

"There is a cost inevitably, and that has to be offset against mobile and flexible working, so [being involved in the scheme] will be dependent on need," Creese said.

Hampshire is to join a number of local government organisations that have already begun experimenting with BYOD, including Leeds city council , Cambridgeshire county council and Norfolk county council .

"BYOD is relatively limited at the moment but it is something that we think will increase.

"Whether we expect everyone to use their own device in the future, the debate is still going on. We are certainly persuaded it is convenient for people to be able to use their iPhone, iPad, or BlackBerry, and we want to encourage that as an option," Creese said.