When Going Viral is Very Bad (Infographic) Employees are more efficient using personal mobile devices for work but data security is another matter.

By Nat Kausik

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Two-thirds of the workforce in the United States uses personal mobile devices to access corporate data, so-called Bring-Your-Own-Device or BYOD. This is a good thing as BYOD allows the employee to merge their work life and their personal life on a single device, leading to increased productivity. As a result, on average, the U.S. corporation saves over $3,000 per BYOD employee annually. But there is a downside. Almost 80% of corporations worry about a lost BYOD device leaking sensitive corporate data.

Related: How the Cloud Can Save You From a 'BYOD' Tech Nightmare

Think of a doctor who practices at two different hospitals. Absent BYOD, she must carry one phone for personal use, and one from each hospital. Pretty cumbersome in comparison to carrying one phone for all three. But the doctor losing her BYOD could mean leaked patient information from both hospitals.

How best to secure corporate data on BYOD without monitoring the employee's personal communications? A technical challenge!

Click to Enlarge+
When Going Viral is Very Bad (Infographic)

Related: Five Rules for 'Bring Your Own Device' Teams

Nat Kausik is president and CEO of Bitglass and drives the company’s strategy and operations. Prior to Bitglass, Nat was CEO of Asterpix, a leader of content discovery; and Trubates, where he worked alongside fellow leadership team members now at Bitglass. Nat received a global education, obtaining a B.Tech from IIT, Madras, an M.S. from Princeton University, and a Ph.D. in computer science from Cornell University.

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