Struggling with IoT or BYOD? Here’s how to overcome the main challenges

​The ideas of 'bring your own device' (BYOD) and Internet of Things (IoT) are a dream come true for most employees – but a nightmare for IT staff.

According to Aruba, 76 percent of businesses remain unprotected from insider threats. Meanwhile, the exponential growth of IoT, corporate and BYOD devices has further reduced visibility, yet security resources have not been increased accordingly.

Research from Gartner reveals that each employee uses an average of three mobile devices. When you factor in corporate guests, contractors and temporary employees (among others), the number of wired and wireless devices connecting to the network grows even higher.

The whole idea of being agile and able to connect anywhere and anytime has been embraced by many businesses, while the need for secure network access control (NAC) has been largely ignored.

This leaves extensive security gaps within networks and can leave them prone to crippling attacks. However, Aruba says this doesn't' mean businesses should sacrifice the many benefits that come with a modern and agile network.

Currently 7,000 enterprise customers around the world use Aruba ClearPass to ensure a more secure and productive environment

Something IT staff will certainly appreciate, IDC has calculated time savings of 283 hours per 1,000 devices per year across network security, incident management, device onboarding and network guest management – translating to $12,036 in IT staff time.