increase of non-M365 applications represented. “Not a flood,” said the report, “but moving in the right direction for establishing Teams as a workplace hub.” What We Do in the Shadows Along with “how” workforces are using Teams, also important is “where.” Because for the majority of businesses, “where” includes significant time on employees’ personal devices. According to the surveys by Techconsult, more than three-quarters of respondents use Microsoft Teams on their private end devices such as their smartphones or tablets. This reality, of course, comes with its own set of rewards and risks. The ominous reality of shadow IT and BYOB notwithstanding, Teams user data suggests that employees who access their in-house collaboration solution through their personal devices tend to be more engaged on the platform and more likely to engage with “digital teaming” type functions. For example, 74 percent of respondents who do not install Teams on their private end devices send and receive messages with four or more colleagues, while among respondents who also use Teams on their private end devices, 84 percent exchange messages with at least four or more colleagues each day. Similarly, 75 percent of employees who use Teams on their private end devices are active in three or more Group Channels. By contrast, just more than one in two respondents (53 percent) who do not have Microsoft Teams on their private end device are active in more than three Groups, show the Techconsult figures. On the other hand, along with the increased degree of internal communications, the use of private end devices also exposes a company to serious risks, Techconsult researchers pointed out. After all, “it isn’t just business-related and private messages that are exchanged but also data relating to everyday work as well as confidential and business-critical files,” said the research firm. What’s more, team members who access collaboration tools on their personal devices often are more likely to share sensitive information. Just more than one in two respondents admit to sharing “business-critical content,” such as operational data, metrics or competitive information through Teams. That includes 56 percent of team members who use Teams on their private devices compared to the 36 percent of those who don’t use their personal devices. Just more than one in two employees (51 percent) with Teams on their private end devices report to sharing “confidential information,” whereas 29 percent of employees without Teams on their private end devices said the same. Much the same thing played out when Teams members were asked about sharing “critical documents,” as nearly twice as many personal device users (43 percent) admitted to the behavior as those who stuck with company-owned devices (22 percent). Among all users, 45 percent of the respondents send “confidential information” via Teams on a frequent to very frequent basis, while 39 percent said they primarily use Teams to send “businesscritical” files. And a similar 39 percent of respondents don’t just share business-critical and internal documents and messages through direct messages but also through public groups. “Since the IT department has no control over the privately used end devices,” Techconsult analysts warned, “a proactive form of protection cannot be ensured.” In other words, the loss or theft of private end devices can lead to data protection breaches, if not risks to the corporate network, while a privately used and unprotected end devices can become infected with malware, which they can then distribute to the company network via the collaboration software. “In this sense, it may be the case that if permissions are set extensively enough, privately-used apps can also access business-critical data from Teams,” said the Techconsult report. In addition to security concerns, it’s not uncommon for employees to use a collaboration platform for storage of business messages and files, introducing issues surrounding data backup and availability. Already, 42 percent of respondents confirm that their IT managers have had to restore Teams data through backups. And, once again, the related use of private end devices may influence the risk to data, as almost one in two respondents (47 percent) with Teams on their private end device has had experiences with data recovery using Teams compared to the 26 percent who don’t have Teams on their private end device. “This mixing of personal and business data is associated with many risks which should be taken into account in the context of the security and backup strategy,” argued the report. It’s unlikely we’ll see heavyhanded restrictions on the use of personal devices to access collaboration solutions. After all, the 600 percent increase in Teams usage between November 2019 and November 2020 (making it the fastest-growing Microsoft business application ever) was in large part to enable remote-based workers, and remote workers use their personal phones and laptops. The risks are simply the reality. “In the event of loss or theft of the private end devices, restricted and confidential data may become public and harm the company,” argued Techconsult analysts. “This means that the IT departments have to be proactive and prepared accordingly.” J 17 REMOTE WORK SOLUTIONS rwsmagazine.com
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