By now, you’ve probably heard a thing or two about BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). This is an IT trend where employees bring their own mobile devices to work and connect them to the office network. Due to the prevalence of mobile devices, this trend is here to stay. Here’s why you’ll want to embrace BYOD, and how to avoid some of the associated security risks.
The first thing you’ll want to do is come to terms with the fact that any actions taken over a network (whether done by a mobile device or workstation) comes with some level of risk. Therefore, since you’ll have to take security precautions anyway, you might as well apply the extra effort and resources required to accommodate BYOD. After all, utilizing mobile devices in the workplace presents organizations with many unique benefits. Take for example these three benefits of BYOD:
- Employee satisfaction: Mobile device users are known for being very attached to their devices. While this may be annoying in social situations, it can benefit your company if you’re able to leverage an employee’s familiarity with their personal devices for work purposes.
- Productivity: Obviously, if an employee can navigate their own device quicker than what they can do with a company-provided workstation, then they’re getting their work done faster.
- After-hours productivity: Whether you mandate it or not, an employee who has their work downloaded to their phone will be more likely to get work done outside of the office, perhaps even at home.
Additionally, let’s not forget about the most obvious, yet often forgotten about, benefit of BYOD: you’re not paying for the equipment! This is a complete departure to how an office traditionally operates, with employers providing equipment for their employees. Somehow, the appeal of BYOD is so strong that many employees are totally fine with purchasing their own devices for work purposes. Just try explaining this idea to an office manager from ten years ago, they wouldn’t believe you.
However, some companies have found a way to take advantage of the aforementioned benefits of BYOD, without taking on the risks associated with employees using their personal devices. The answer here is to provide employees with mobile devices. This allows you to enact more controls for the device that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to, while still allowing for your employees to become more productive by using a mobile platform.
In all actuality, a company will still need some level of control over the mobile devices used by its staff. Few non-IT employees are tech savvy enough to apply needed updates to mission-critical apps, and just like workstations, mobile devices require routine maintenance and updates, which are best left to IT professionals with a unified plan ensuring all company-connected devices are on the same page. Therefore, you’ll want to account for security needs like these in whatever way your business chooses to implement mobile devices.
As great as BYOD is, you’ll want to approach this trend with caution and account for any potential security risks. Aspire is here to tell you that, the worst thing you can do for your network security, is allow every employee to bring in their mobile devices to the office without any BYOD plan or device regulations. Therefore, to take full advantage of mobile technology in the workplace, be sure to give our trained IT technicians a call at (469) 7-ASPIRE. We’ll take the time to implement a mobile device management solution that works best for your company’s needs.
