To BYOD or not to BYOD for SMEs?

According to recent statistics, BYOD market size is expected to reach $366.95 billion by 2022. BYOD or the philosophy of employees bringing their own device to the workplace and the need for mobility have become so pervasive that 87% of businesses are now dependent on their employee’s ability to access mobile business apps from their smartphone. BYOD is estimated to generate a financial value of $350 each year per employee. Companies estimate that BYOD-carrying employees tend to work an extra two hours. It is hardly surprising then that recent surveys have found that 69% of IT decision-makers in the U.S. say that BYOD is a positive trend and 59% of organizations adopt BYOD. If you are looking to implement BYOD in your organization, IT Outsourcing Vermont will be able to help.

The most lucrative benefit of a BYOD policy obviously comes from the highly generous savings a company makes since there is no need to invest upfront on employee systems such as phones and laptops. Moreover, there is the added advantage that employees are much more likely to take better care of their equipment because they own them. Managed IT Services Vermont can help you implement and manage BYOD at your workplace today.

Carrying an office phone and a personal phone everywhere has been cumbersome for employees for years. BYOD solves this effectively as employees only need to carry their personal device.

Since employees are using their own devices, there is zero learning curve involved in getting comfortable with using the equipment. This means that a company can expect productivity to pick up right from day one.

Employees are more motivated to update their own equipment. This removes the burden from companies to update equipment which can be significantly expensive.

Allowing BYOD at the workplace means also having the technical chops in the IT department to cater to a dizzyingly wide variety of devices. This can become a significant challenge for companies compared to standard issue laptops and phones.

While companies can always deploy rules about using company-owned equipment, the same cannot be done easily for employees’ personal devices. This makes it harder for a company to keep its information secure when personal systems are liable to be used by people not employed by the organization and also at the time of the employee’s departure from the organization. Companies need to find ways to remove any confidential information from employee devices without impacting their personal information stored on the same device.

Even as you allow company employees to use their own personal devices to access the company network and sensitive company data, the responsibility for ensuring the security of confidential information is up to the company. This means having absolutely clear cut policies on confidential or classified information stored on employee devices and how they can be accessed or processed.

Given the varied nature of all devices under BYOD in any organization, there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to software. Finding software that works with all of them can be highly challenging and so can be administering patches and updates. One way of addressing this challenge can be to outsource your IT requirements to a managed service provider offering Software-as-a-Service.

While the advantages of implementing BYOD can be a tempting proposition for companies, it is necessary to first gauge whether BYOD can be the right fit at your workplace. The first step would be to consider the nature after work at your organization. If your company operates in a highly sensitive and regulated industry, it may not be advisable to implement BYOD. You will also need to take into account the BYOD Advantages and Disadvantages.

Any comprehensive BYOD policy should cover:

• Which employees come under the cover of the policy.
• Which devices are allowed access to the company network.
• A comprehensive list of allowed and blacklisted apps.
• Minimum processing power, memory storage, and other requirements of the BYOD devices as per category (phones, laptops etc.).
• Clear ownership info about the company information stored on the employee’s device.
• All applicable security rules and laws.

Preventing data breaches on devices can be tricky on BYOD Networks. It is advisable for companies to implement a multi-faceted approach towards ensuring security. One of the most basic steps you can implement to ensure security is to make employees use multi-factor authentication for access to the company network. Employees must also undergo regular BYOD security awareness training in order to recognize the signs of a data breach, cyberattacks etc. and know how to respond to emergency situations.

Your BYOD policies should also inspire confidence in employees that your monitoring and management software is not being used to snoop on their personal information. The software ideally should not have any access to personal apps or have the ability to copy or store the employee’s personal information. IT Consulting Vermont offers industry-leading expertise in BYOD Bring Your Own Device and BYOD Management.