The Benefits of a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) Corporate Policy: A blog about the benefits of bring your own device programs for businesses.
Bring your own device (BYOD), or bring your own technology, is an organizational approach in which employees are permitted to choose their own computing equipment for use on the job instead of having that equipment supplied by the company. This trend has been widely adopted by companies because it provides a number of advantages to both employees and employers. BYOD solutions provide employers access to select forms of technology that may facilitate greater flexibility for their workforce, better opportunities for cost savings, and a workplace that is modernized and more productive. They also benefit employees through the same economic benefits, plus increased autonomy when accessing or using their own technology at work.
In today’s increasingly mobile world, the topic of BYOD security is an important one for IT leaders. While Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies can improve employee productivity and morale, they can also expose organizations to serious security risks.
What is BYOD?
For many IT departments, the challenge associated with BYOD is twofold: they must support a growing number of personal devices on their networks, while also protecting their organization’s data and intellectual property. The first step in doing so effectively is to understand what exactly BYOD means for your organization.
As defined by TechTarget, “bring your own device (BYOD) is a policy that allows employees to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets, and smart phones) to their workplace and access sensitive company data and applications on them.”
Why is BYOD Security Important?
IT leaders should be concerned about BYOD security since personal devices are likely to enter the workplace regardless of whether IT has approved it. By using BYOD solutions, employees can be more productive and motivated. However, if IT does not address this problem, personal devices connected to an organization’s network can present serious security risks.
Organizations often have policies regarding the use of personal devices at work. But there is nothing quite as comprehensive as a bring your own device (BYOD) policy. A BYOD security policy addresses the risks associated with employees using their personal devices for work, and how to secure corporate data when an employee leaves the company or loses a device.
How does BYOD security work?
A BYOD security policy is a formalized set of rules that address what types of personally owned devices are approved for use at work, and how to protect organizational data on these devices. The term “bring your own device” refers to any mobile computing device that an employee brings into the workplace, including laptops, smartphones, flash drives and tablets. As consumers increasingly favor personal devices over company-issued ones, it’s important that IT departments have their own policies in place to address this trend.
What is the purpose of a BYOD security policy?
Most people bring their personal devices to work because they are more comfortable with them than company-issued ones. According to Gartner Research, by 2021, 90% of large enterprises will support some form of BYOD. With so many employees using personal devices for work purposes, IT must address if and how they will secure
Benefits and drawbacks of BYOD
While the concept of BYOD has been around for a decade, its recent rise in popularity within the workplace has been driven by the proliferation of smartphones and tablets. In fact, surveys show that employees are increasingly using their personal devices to access corporate networks and data.
Among the benefits of supporting BYOD within your organization are:
- Increasing employee productivity to 16 percent with a 40-hour work week, according to a study*
- Supporting flexible work arrangements increases employee satisfaction and retention
- Increasing employee productivity due to greater comfort and speed with their own devices
- By increasing employee retention and job satisfaction through end-of-life hardware, software, and device maintenance
Employers using personal devices on the job may face the following disadvantages:
- Loss or theft of personal devices or the departure of employees may result in data breaches
- Personal devices do not have firewalls or anti-virus software installed
- Increasing IT costs if the department decides to support personal devices
- Lack of network security (if a device is connected to a work network, it could be vulnerable)
- Possible increased legal liability if an employee’s device is used to store confidential information
- Potential for sexual harassment and discrimination claims associated with emails and texts stored on personal devices
IT departments must have policies in place to deal with the growing BYOD trend and its inherent dangers. The solutions, applications and security mechanisms that you and your organization decide upon may affect a user’s ability to take their BYOD device into your organization. If your organization is unable to compete with BYOD, it is important to find ways of co-existing and capitalizing on this trend without impacting the way your staff work.
