It might be a buzzword; it could just be thing that might help your business go mobile and improve efficiency among your employees. Yet, you’ll have to look at it objectively. Earlier, we’ve covered posts on Going mobile and BYOD. We listed how to deploy tablets and mobile devices in the work place. In a post titled, Disadvantages of BYOD: Not Everything about it is Roses and Candles. We also covered specifics on various aspects such as mobile security.
Before jumping in with gusto, it helps if you remember these points:
BYOD could prove to be expensive
Nick Health, in a feature on Techrepublic, goes into detail about the possibility of BYOD pushing your IT costs up. He cites the possibility of BYOD turning out to be a constant source of headache and added load on resources. He refers to a research by Damavo UK where 73% of IT directors surveyed feared that BYOD could cause more trouble than bring in benefits. They also doubted that a shift to BYOD trend would reduce costs. In fact, they feel it could be the other way around.
All that data moving around, is that a good idea?
For most IT managers and senior management, the very thought of precious data sitting on personal devices that employees own is scary. With the obvious fact that this data will travel with the employees subjects it to a great deal of risk. Is it a good idea to leave data in the hands of employees? No, it’s not. Hence the need for deciding exactly what kind of data sits on those devices.
What support issues should you pay attention to
While employees will bring their own devices to work, there’s likely to be a thin line dividing their device use for corporate work and for their personal use. In such cases, considering a technical issue crops up, what sort of issues will you pay attention to? How do you know for sure – in the case of a device not working properly – that your enterprise application and not a personal one caused the problem? How much technology support should a company extend to employees when they bring their devices to work?
A tough call that one.
Could corporate devices Still be a better bet?
What happens if you go back to corporate-issue standard smart phones such as Blackberry? Is it easier, better, quicker, and more efficient to use this method compared to BYOD? Technically and administratively speaking, it does seem to be the better option for IT management and security point of view. Carrying another phone is a non-issue for the employee, it keeps the phone separated from personal use, clarifies the extent of support that your IT management has to worry about, and allows complete control for your business -- none of these benefits seem to come without complications for BYOD.