When thieves robbed an Integris home health-care provider of a notebook computer at gunpoint in February, Integris CIO John Delano had two priorities: ensuring the employee's well-being and protecting the patient information on the notebook. Fortunately, the employee was unharmed and the patient information remained protected because it had been encrypted. The company's mobile-technology risk strategy was working—so far.

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The proliferation of mobile technologies like notebooks, smart phones, and removable media has introduced new risks to business information. According to a 2006 report by the Ponemon Institute, a security-research organization, more than 54% of all security breaches resulted from the loss of a laptop, mobile device, or electronic backup. Data breaches are now regulated by several state and federal laws—another reason CIOs should be worried about protecting customer information.

Despite the risks, mobile usage is booming because of the advantages of workforce enablement and rapid infrastructure deployment. A 2006 Forrester report on mobile organizations found that almost two-thirds of U.S. businesses are deploying wireless networks, with mobile voice and data spending representing almost a quarter of last year's telecom budget.