The unprecedented growth of smartphones and laptops in an individual’s life has made the gap between personal and professional life negligible. This fact has brought about a new revolution in the market that we know as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). BYOD It is a practice that allows employees of an organization to use their own devices (i.e. smartphones, laptops, tablets, and computers) at work. Like BYOD, companies are also implementing Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC) and Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT), which fall under a larger umbrella of consumer IT. This is the combination of personal and professional workspace with the help of the internet and smart devices, driven mainly by millennials these days.
“BYOD is making significant noise in the world of business around the world with approximately 75% of employees in the fastest growing markets such as India, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates and 44% in developed markets using their own devices at work.” – CXOUnplugged.
How BYOD can transform your business
BYOD has created several opportunities in the marketplace and is making workplaces more flexible than ever. Here’s how BYOD will help you take your business to the next level.
• Improved productivity
When you allow all employees to use their own devices in the workplace, the convenience of working on a similar device increases the work efficiency of employees. By making use of the familiar technology and user interface, employees won’t have to spend their time understanding a new device.
• Reduced infrastructure cost
Many times for a business, a lot of capital goes into building an IT infrastructure and maintaining it, which can come from the cost of implementing BYOD. When a company implements BYOD, it automatically reduces the cost of purchasing devices for each employee and, in turn, can provide better connectivity services in the organization.
• Improved employee loyalty
When a company allows its employees to bring their own devices to work, it ultimately gives them a sense of trust from the company in them. By giving them the freedom to use someone else’s device at work and giving them access to sensitive company data on their device, you build loyalty among employees, which makes them do their best in their work.
• Easy management of employee traffic
The best part of having a Bring Your Own Device Policy is that you don’t have to control physical devices when an employee joins or leaves the company. Any type of configuration to the company network can be done through the cloud. In the event the employee leaves the company, the employee’s device or devices can simply be removed from the company’s cloud network. No hassle with LAN cables required.
“A recent survey by mobile phone maker Blackberry indicated that 41% of Indian organizations have a BYOD policy.” – gadgets now
With such a large percentage of Indian organizations implementing BYOD, the next question that needs to be answered is how to implement BYOD in a business. When implementing BYOD, a company must also have a strict policy to make sure that the operation runs smoothly. There should be no loopholes that could jeopardize the confidentiality of the company.
BYOD – How to implement it in your business
In order to have a seamless BYOD implementation, an organization must have a strong policy. Here are the 7 things to keep in mind when implementing BYOD.
• Payments for devices and data usage
• Device support and access levels for everyone in the workplace (permanent employee, contract employee, and guests)
• Data storage (cloud/local storage)
• Employee data privacy (employee personal data should not be leaked or shared on the network)
• Data authentication (type of data an employee can view or edit while not at work)
• In case of theft, damage or loss of the device, what measures should be taken
• Restore data in case the device is sold, disposed of or is no longer in use.
