The era of complex, disaster-prone computing might just be over, or perhaps, around the corner. These days, computing is as much about people (the soft issues) as it is about devices (hard issues).

Our personal habits, our income levels and resources, our education of certain things (or ignorance, as the case may be), our work place practices, our social norms and the way we live and engage with the larger society generally all help to define how we make use of the available ‘software’ and ‘hardware’ tools in the environment.
    
The changing global demographic is also a key factor. In a few years, “Generation Y” (those born beginning in the mid-1970s) will make up half of the workforce worldwide.

This population is marked by an increased familiarity and reliance on communications, media and digital technologies — they came of age in a connected world.

In a measured response to this trend, scientists and inventors at IBM began to actively promote the concept of BYOD (bring your own device) many years ago.

BYOD has enormous implications on work place productivity, how companies support alternate work schedules and preferences and even who they are able to recruit.

In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous economy, the dynamic of how people live and work is also changing, albeit slowly. Work used to be a “place”.

Now, work can be any place and everywhere, and the tools to enable these new work practices are increasingly available.

New technology is helping to attenuate some of the key infrastructure issues and challenges facing the country, and companies operating in Nigeria will have to dump their analogue era habits and procedures to embrace this emergent work-life ethic if they are desirous of making full use of employee skills and capabilities. 

In this era of social and business networks, connectivity and content creation and consumption is only a click or two away.

The integrity of electronic or digital information and raw data, encompassing data generation, protection and security, is increasingly a major headache for device makers and users alike.

As data consumption habits change – with more and more individuals developing content on mobile devices, and communicating within local and international boundaries with these devices – the question, “how safe and secure is your software environment / infrastructure?” becomes very pertinent. 

According to Gartner, a global technology research consultancy, more than 45.6 billion mobile applications were downloaded in 2012.

As the rate of application use on mobile devices increases, securing smartphones and other endpoint devices is a top priority for organizations and Chief Information Security Officers.

The proliferation of consumer and enterprise mobile applications also adds to the dilemma. Organizations cannot always control or restrict the applications installed on user devices, so they must test how applications send and save data.

One of the technology firms at the forefront of solving and embracing this new way of work is IBM, the 101 year old company based in Armonk, New York, USA. IBM recently announced the release of its new security software – the IBM AppScan Source 8.7 for iOS – that can automatically identify where data enters and leaves a mobile application, helping to prevent mobile data leakage. 

This new software release builds on IBM’s MobileFirst initiative and expands the company’s strategy to provide organizations with a mobile platform that spans application development, integration, security and management.

Consequently, companies and internet software developers globally can better protect each mobile application release in the face of constant updates. IBM previously announced IBM AppScan for applications running on the Android platform.

Taiwo Otiti, IBM’s country general manager for West Africa said the IBM AppScan Source 8.7 for iOS will be available in markets globally as from March 25..

Otiti acknowledged that for many companies, the pace of mobile application releases and updates can be overwhelming as they try to maintain strict security guidelines and policies. “IBM AppScan Source 8.7 for iOS provides the ability to improve security quality without sacrificing time-to-market of mobile application projects.”

As always with IBM, business-friendly innovations like this new security software often begin life incubating as prototypes and projects in any or several of IBM’s 12 labs located around the world. IBM products therefore undergo rigorous design, development and testing cycles by IBMers beginning with its scientists, engineers, staff and business partners.

This culture of scientific rigor and excellence is one of the reasons IBM has remained at the apex of innovation for decades.

IBM developed its own mobile apps store — WhirlWind — created exclusively for IBMers, many years ago.

WhirlWind currently supports Apple iOS, Google Android and Blackberry devices. It is designed to help employees unleash the power and potential of their smartphones as a productivity tool. The store currently offers more than 500 apps and recently passed the 40,000 download mark.

At the moment, some 120,000 employees access the IBM network through mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops).

Of those, 80,000 are using devices they have purchased on their own, while the remaining 40,000 employees are using company issued devices.

IBM is always mindful of security and how it needs to stay ahead of malware and other threats to its data and that of its clients.

The company has tools in place to protect its data from being compromised, and is implementing other tools on an ongoing basis, realizing that this will always be a moving target.

Organizations need to be able to seize the business potential that mobility promises, said Caleb Barlow, IBM’s director of Application, Data and Mobile Security. He therefore counsels firms to incorporate security into their infrastructure and solutions from the design, development and testing phases rather than leaving security to become an afterthought.

Employees play a significant role in security by employing common sense practices and avoiding risky sites or untrusted networks. IBM has outlined advised practices in its “Secure Computing Guidelines,” similar to what it has in place for social computing and business conduct in general.

The bottom line is IBM will not compromise it network. That means that some devices and applications will be enabled inside of IBM more quickly than others, and some may never be enabled at all. 

Nigerian firms and their employees would do well to a take a cue from this global technology company.