While we are in a world that’s soon going to be engulfed in a sea of options when it comes to smartphones and tablets, companies now certainly see the need to acknowledge that. Blackberry culture was different – it had corporate tattoos all over every device it sold.
Today, BYOD poses new challenges. It calls for a set of new rules. This is a different arena. As to actually implement BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) in a company or not, only respective businesses can decide. Here’s what in store with BYOD and a few things you should keep in mind, however:
BYOD won’t save you money or cut costs
Contrary to the popular opinion, BYOD doesn’t exactly lower your costs. Yes, companies certainly save on the hardware and proprietary mobile management and support that comes with purchasing company-controlled hand-held devices, but that’s where saving stops. Where does it show up instead?
It consumes man-hours dedicated to devising a new BYOD policy; in the continuing support for a large variety of smartphones and tablets that users will purchase for themselves; constant monitoring of phone and tablet usage within and outside the company; data surveillance and management; reactionary work when it comes to data theft or data loss instances; and investing in various applications devised for these mobile devices (3rd party or company-owned), and much more.
BYOD leads to better security
No matter how you look at it, BYOD doesn’t bring about any welcome change in the security situation. How comfortable can a company be with proprietary research data, sensitive information related to the company and financial data related to customers residing on mobile devices that’s housed on multiple mobile phones?
Additionally, companies have no control on websites employees visit, the social media channels they spend time on, and the various downloads they grab off the Internet. As far as security risks related to data loss, data theft, spyware, malware, and viruses, companies are still at the point where they started. Corporate data needs to remain safe, steps need to be taken to keep sensitive data protected, and IT staff needs to make sure that corporate information doesn’t exchange hands off any of the roving mobile devices, ever.
CIOs and IT staff have more work than they bargained for, don’t they?
BYOD Leads to Better Productivity, really?
It’s a gamble, much like marriages are. Corporates never know what’s coming, and although the case for BYOD has productivity as its leading front-runner for consideration, it might not exactly pan to be that way. Actual employee productivity – with companies all around the world – is already an issue. With personal devices in everyone’s pocket, how do you control usage?
If personal devices are an extension of users themselves, what do you with 80% of employees (roughly speaking, from Pareto’s Principle) who aren’t as productive as they could be? The hard-selling productivity rider that BYOD depends on might not be as glamorous as it seems to be. At best, productivity stays where it was before BYOD implementation.
Yet, consumer demand is such that companies are looking to go the BYOD way. It’s already happening, and many more companies will take this route. We, for one, don’t really know whether BYOD has any real, discernable benefits.
What do you think about BYOD? Do you think it makes sense for companies to implement BYOD? We’d love to know your opinions, thoughts, and comments. Feel free to write up.
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