The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/4983
www.iltanet.org 12 Peer to Peer ASK THE ExPERT Management of Mobile Devices: A Primer N o matter how powerful desktop Pcs become, lawyers are often attracted to a plethora of mobile devices. For our true road warriors, a desktop to be used in the office is supplemented by one or more mobile devices — a handheld device, notebook PC, netbook and mobile phone. Because these devices are designed to travel, they are much more susceptible to loss, theft and damage. ThE IMPLICATIONS FOR INVENTORy With a fleet of equipment that is primarily staying at home, you might be able to maintain inventory levels of spare equipment as low as one to two percent (five to 10 PCs in an office of 500 people). The chance of that percentage of PCs failing all at once is minimal, turnaround time for ordering replacement equipment is generally faster for desktops than laptops and reasonably priced rental equipment is generally available for an emergency. Once you add a large number of mobile devices to your inventory, your spare levels need to increase as well. In addition to the mobility risks cited above, most technicians will confirm that laptops simply fail more often than desktops. In addition, should a mobile PC be lost or damaged, the lawyer generally wants a replacement model of the same type and vintage. Therefore, if you offer more than one laptop option (e.g., one lightweight and one heavier), you must maintain individual inventories of those models. Our road warriors are so deeply dependent on their mobile devices that they cannot be expected to wait for a replacement device. As a result, having at-hand inventory is a necessity. Bottom line: we target inventory levels of three to five percent for laptops. ThE dATA EquATION Another key factor in the management of your mobile devices relates to data. The good news is that with Internet connectivity becoming increasingly ubiquitous (we can't even escape on an airplane), our lawyers have more access to data on our systems. This decreases the risk of data being stored on mobile devices. However, we are far from the data management nirvana advertised by vendors of cloud computing. Until we have true anywhere and anytime access to data, our lawyers will take data with them. This mobile data presents two challenges: loss prevention and loss response. If data is stored locally, you need to look at encryption and local access control technology (as basic as passwords) to prevent sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands. Should an unprotected device be lost, you will need to have policies in place to govern client notification. You might also wish to implement one of several "LoJack" applications and services designed to recover stolen assets and the invaluable data. WhO PAyS? When mobile devices are lost, stolen or damaged, new devices must be paid for somehow. In determining your policy on lost, stolen or damaged devices, you will face a number of factors: practical, cultural and legal. From a practical perspective, you have to pay for replacement devices and nonwarranty repairs to damaged equipment. Your management could decide it makes sense to charge users for replacement devices or repairs simply to defray the associated cost. However, your culture might not support such a decision if your organization generally pays for everything. Finally, laws governing your jurisdiction might not allow you to charge employees for damage to or loss of equipment required to perform their duties. ThE PERSONAL dEVICE dILEMMA With the increasing convergence of consumer, personal and business devices, you will likely find yourself facing issues relating to managing devices not owned by your organization. Even if you do not own the BlackBerry connected to your firm's Exchange system, the lawyer will