Enterprises have had to adapt to an increase in ‘BYOX’ in the workplace in recent years. With the BYOD revolution showing no signs of slowing down any time soon, and the BYOA trend gathering pace, organisations are having to face a new security threat: ‘bring your own cloud’.

This is a trend that has been driven primarily because many organisations don’t have the right tools in place to allow employees to make the most of working across multiple devices. As a result, many workers are bringing their own, public cloud-based applications into the workplace.

Gartner calls this the era of ‘personal cloud’, which is the collection of digital content, services and apps that are seamlessly accessible across any device.

Many of these are primarily designed for consumer use and could, as a result, potentially put sensitive data at risk.

However, if enterprises took this trend to heart and provided enterprise-grade solutions that provided the same experience for users by storing, syncing, streaming and sharing content in a contextual basis, users could work the way they prefer, and enterprises wouldn’t have to worry as often about data security.

Enterprises shouldn’t be surprised by the rise of this new expectation for how next-generation computing services will work, as it’s a natural extension of the mobile enabled world we all live in.

>See also: 'Personal cloud' to eclipse PC in just two years – Gartner

The specific device no longer matters to users, they want their digital content to be constantly accessible via any mobile device and housed in sleek, sophisticated apps.

This can be seen in the world around us everyday, with the rise of personal storage options, or the legions of Apple fanboys that buy the newest device, and expect to access the same content from all of their gadgets.

Smart enterprises are already instituting mobile strategies, and the personal cloud trend should be taken into account with future iterations of these policies. Incorporating mobile devices and the constant accessibility of data into the daily workflow of employees will increase productivity, benefitting the bottom line of any enterprise.

Many executives cite data leaks or breaches as a reason to not implement these kinds of next generation technology, but that doesn’t address the root issue – employees are going to use these types of technologies whether or not there IT provides one for them.

For those enterprises not yet supporting mobile policies, this is a wake-up call. All businesses need to consider how they will support their teams and deliver relevant applications and solutions for a mobile world.

In a world where the device is becoming less important, IT teams need to choose data-centric tools for their employees, which are accessible and secure no matter which device is being used.

Enterprises must put their foot down to nip this ‘bring your own cloud’ trend in the bud, by providing employees with enterprise-class cloud solutions that can guarantee the integrity of the data being held.

This will keep data secure no matter where its access from, without impeding the way that employees prefer to work.

Sourced from Paul Steiner, GM of EMEA, Accellion