You’re struggling with balancing the need for control and security of your endpoints with end user demands for flexibility and choice. 

It’s tough because as a technical expert you’re well aware of the serious threats to data and network security your organization faces. Organizations that have experienced a breach lose credibility and suffer market losses.

You understand what has to be done. Locking down endpoints would not be as hard if you had more control of the variety, number and use of devices.

But you don’t have unlimited control and maybe you’re struggling to understand why. 

And the reason why comes down to the need for technology in the first place, employee productivity.

A key factor in employee productivity is autonomy.

“workers who believe they are free to make choices in the workplace — and be accountable for their decisions — are happier and more productive”

And in fact autonomy with the freedom to make choices increases well-being more than money.

When end users have choice in the devices they use, they are more likely to be more productive when using the device.

So is it possible for you to introduce device choice into your organization without introducing chaos.

The answer is, it depends. Below are 4 key questions to ask:

1. 1. Do you have a clear and efficient process for acquiring, staging and deploying endpoints within 3-5 business days? 
2. If the answer is no, introducing more device complexity into your environment can burden your team and result in user satisfaction issues. 
5. 2. Is your endpoint team organized by type of device managed, i.e. mobile team versus Windows team?
6. Breaking down the silos between your endpoint teams and moving away from device focused management to policy based management will make it easier to have endpoint variety on your network.
9. 3. Do you have a robust asset tracking system that allows you log device info and licensing info?
10. Can you cross reference to end users, so you know which user has what?
13. 4. Have you thought about an endpoint security plan to manage threats based on device condition, device and user location and device application access?
14. These are important issues to address because as you increase device variety you will also increase the “who, what where and how” devices are used. 

Eventually we will all have to be okay with a wide variety of endpoints on your network. We haven’t even touched on IOT. Work on the issues outlined above and it will be much easier. Adapting to the new complexity is a central purpose of IT in increasing organization productivity and end user satisfaction.