IT consumerism makes security critical for enterprises

MUMBAI - With convergence and mobility making even consumers use a host of computing devices in daily life, security of IT infrastructure has become critical to enterprises providing products and services, a senior executive of global security solutions provider Symantec Corporation Thursday said here.

As internet, mobility and social networking drive the increasing use of computing devices by consumers, securing their information, data and privacy has become a major challenge to enterprises, Symantec Worldwide sales executive Bill Robbins said.

In a keynote address at the annual ‘Symantec Vision 2010′ conference, Robbins told about 800 delegates that consumers were pushing IT to support a variety of technologies unlike standardising one device or platform as in the past.

Today’s consumers are smart to use any device they choose, be it a PC, iPad, iPhone, Android, etc. for professional and personal use, Robbins said, unveiling the $6.6-billion company’s new strategy to enhance the security features of IT infrastructure in enterprises.

Noting that transformations in enterprise IT were being driven to be more productive and reduce cost of operations, Robbins said Symantec vision was to help consumers in using technology in such a way that they don’t have to depend on a system administrator to manage their IT systems at home or office.

The IT-isation of consumer is resulting in use of more and more technology in homes than in offices. Mobility is enabling consumers to stay connected digitally and operate in a virtual world, Robbins noted.

With the advent of social enterprise, communicating by e-mail has become inefficient as evident from the sheer volume of mails users get.

Organisations have started leveraging more social media to improve communication and productivity in an enterprising way, Robbins pointed out.

Virtualisation and cloud computing are bringing about a paradigm shift in the way services are delivered.

All these technology trends are bringing about a critical shift in the way enterprises operate to become more information-centric than being just infrastructure-centric, Robbins added.

The company will also showcase its latest technologies ranging from effective management of large data centres and cloud computing, to the latest in security and storage at the day-long event.