Automate Enforcement

Technology tools are a good way to enforce consumer IT procedures and take control of your security landscape. Israel uses automation tools from Lumension (to prevent users from connecting an iPod to the system without prior authorization) and Pointesec (to force encryption for all removable media). "I have a love-hate relationship with thumb drives. We are moving to mandatory encryption, where the saved data is encrypted and the thumb drive itself is encrypted with biometrics," says Israel.

Once a mobile device is configured to access the ERP system at Kennametal, an automatic security solution is deployed that includes password protection and the ability for Datt's team to remotely lock or wipe the data if a device is lost. Datt also has policies around device procurement and supports only certain features of some devices. For example, although there is a GPS capability in the 900 BlackBerrys deployed throughout Kennametal, it is not activated for use at the server level at this time.

It is possible to reap the benefits of consumer technologies in the workplace while exercising control. At John C Lincoln, doctors and nurses suggested an alternative use for Bluetooth headsets. IT responded, and today health-care professionals use hands-free Bluetooth to obtain medical updates and new patient-care information. Kennametal's CEO Carlos Cardoso joined the blogger community to communicate to employees and discuss corporate strategy.

"Technology is becoming so personal and so capable that smart people want to use it to make their work lives better," says Dominick.

Sidebar | Now playing on JPL-TV

Jet Propulsion Lab takes a page from YouTube

Jim Rinaldi, CIO at Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), is a big fan of using multimedia to receive and share information. "We encourage the use of podcasting to keep current with a topic and hope to make iTunes a standard offering on desktops," he says. In the meantime, there's television.

A couple of years ago, senior business executives were struggling with how best to keep staff apprised of new thinking. They came to Rinaldi with an idea: They wanted to tape seminars and meetings and make them available online. The idea clicked with Rinaldi and his team; his deputy CIO took ownership of the project.

Less than a year later, JPL-TV debuted on the corporate intranet. The tool is a variation on YouTube and currently has about 100 videos in its growing inventory, complete with search functionality (which is still maturing). Employees throughout the organization can visit JPL-TV, search for a specific video and then watch it on their desktop. The JPL-TV team is creating a set of specific management policies, which will be found on the site, and include items like permission to videotape participants in the meetings and specific guidelines about what types of meetings to include.

- C Mathews