For a few years now, organizations are taking several measures to bring about flexibility of their work culture.
One such practice is Bring Your Own Device, popularly referred to as BYOD.
BYOD enables an worker to work using their very own device, giving them the freedom to hold work home or every other location. The fundamental advantages of BYOD include helping businesses grow by saving money and increasing productivity.
In this text, we’ll discuss BYOD pros and find out how to implement the system successfully in your organization. We’ll also cover two BYOD cons and find out how to manage them.
Table of Contents
Let’s start.
9 major benefits of BYOD
BYOD is the practice of allowing employees to make use of their very own devices like laptops, mobile phones, tablets, iPad, etc., as a substitute of using a company-provided device.
On account of its increased flexibility, the system has been gaining popularity, especially amongst small and medium businesses.
In reality, a 2018 survey found that 85% of enterprise IT experts have experienced BYOD benefits and embraced the system.
Let’s take a look at a few of these advantages of BYOD:
1. Boosts worker productivity
A Bullock survey reported that 42% of employees who were allowed to work on their very own devices experienced increased productivity and efficiency.
A few of the reasons for prime productivity are:
A. Less training
Employees are more familiar with their devices’ operating system, functions, etc., as in addition they spend non-working hours on them. This prevents the necessity to tutor employees to make use of the device.
B. More customization
An worker has more liberty to change and design the device they own.
They’ll customize the laptop’s exterior and interior in accordance with their liking, enhancing their experience and productivity.
For instance, an worker using their personal laptop can upgrade their RAM from 4 GB to 8GB to run many software concurrently.
Moreover, employees can get a tool suiting their requirements once they buy it themselves.
For instance, a graphic designer may prefer a 360-degree foldable laptop for convenient use. However the organization may not provide it because of its high cost.
C. Convenience
Using an worker owned device for work implies that employees can have all the information, software, etc., in a single device. They’ll easily navigate from one tab to a different, attend meetings, check personal emails, etc., from the identical device.
This helps them save the hassle they might otherwise spend on juggling between devices and lets them maintain their work life balance.
For instance, an worker who’s more productive listening to music may not download a music app on their office laptop but use an iPod. Managing two devices concurrently can take their mind off the work and make them less productive.
With BYOD, the worker can download the music app on their laptop and take heed to it while working with none interruption.
D. Saves time
A Mordor Intelligence study found that employees save 37 minutes per week with a BYOD system.
How?
A private smartphone or tablet enables employees to attend client calls, arrange meetings, reschedule shifts based on leaves, etc., to finish tasks immediately.
With BYOD, they don’t must wait to achieve the office to answer to emails or fix meetings.
Employees can utilize the saved time to finish other tasks, enabling them to wrap up work quicker and maintain work-life balance.
2. Decreases operating costs
A Samsung Insights study found that firms with 500 or fewer employees save as much as 14% over two years by adopting BYOD.
Here’s how the BYOD model makes cost savings possible:
A. No buying recent devices
BYOD requires the end-users to buy, maintain, or update devices, reducing the general expenditure for the corporate.
B. Reduces monthly web costs
Corporations subscribe to corporate data plans, which are frequently expensive. On top of that, employees may not completely utilize the web plan, leading to wastage of information and money.
As a substitute, by implementing BYOD, firms can ask employees to subscribe to data plans at worker expense and reimburse money by calculating the information used for work.
3. Higher worker satisfaction
BYOD empowers employees to work at any time, giving them more control over their work. It significantly increases worker engagement and satisfaction.
Using the system, employees can take work outside the office too. This helps them put in extra hours to fulfill deadlines from a cushty place like home.
Moreover, since employees use the identical device for private and paperwork, they will conveniently switch between tasks to accommodate urgent personal tasks (provided the BYOD policy permits). It may further increase their morale and enhance their satisfaction.
4. Access to recent devices and technology
Employees generally get attached to their devices and usually tend to keep them updated. They may purchase smart devices with up thus far technology at any time when one is accessible.
For example, let’s say a designer upgraded their unusual personal device to an iPad Pro.
If the corporate that employs the designer has a BYOD program, they will use the iPad Pro’s high edge to edge display quality to get a greater idea about their designs — which most devices don’t offer.
5. Easier communication
An worker with an organization device won’t check emails or messages after working hours for the reason that devices aren’t with them. This might make it hard for his or her colleagues to speak with them during urgent situations after work.
Nevertheless, in a BYOD system, employees can get in contact with one another at any time when needed through their work-personal devices.
Furthermore, employees who’re continually on the go may not find it feasible to hold multiple devices. The BYOD system enables them to put in the required apps or software on their personal devices.
They’ll then communicate with their colleagues, report the status of field projects, manage attendance, etc., from a single easy-to-carry device like a phone.
6. Increases trust between employer and worker
Most firms set strict guidelines regarding the usage of an worker device during working hours. This could make employees feel controlled, reducing their morale.
And sometimes, employees might sneak of their personal devices even when it’s strictly prohibited within the workplace.
By implementing a BYOD policy, your employees will know you trust them, which can boost their loyalty. Furthermore, the system also lets them use their device for private purposes in case of emergencies.
What’s Time Doctor?
A few of them are:
7. Reduces pressure on support teams
A BYOD policy shifts the responsibility of devices from the employer to the end-user. And employees turn out to be responsible for the upkeep of the devices they use for work.
Moreover, support teams won’t must worry about updating any app or device since employees can do it themselves.
This reduces the workload on the corporate’s IT department, letting them consider other vital tasks like data security or ensuring that the work software runs seamlessly.
8. Helps recruit top talent by simplifying distant work
Organizations normally buy immobile devices like desktops as a substitute of portable ones like laptops to get monetary savings. Consequently, employees can’t work from anywhere apart from the office, decreasing flexibility and job satisfaction.
Moreover, employees staying removed from the office may find it difficult to commute every day to access the corporate device. Employers can have to rent from places near the office, restricting the talent pool.
You possibly can solve each these problems by embracing a BYOD program.
Employees are more likely to have portable devices, and by adopting a BYOD program, they will carry work to anywhere. And employers can incorporate distant work into their work culture.
Likewise, with BYOD, employers can hire employees from any corner of the world, increasing the probabilities of finding higher talent.
For instance, let’s say a Latest York-based company found a highly talented content author within the UAE. But the corporate won’t have the opportunity to rent the candidate if it permits only company devices.
However, using BYOD, the corporate can hire the candidate and allow them to use their very own device.
While BYOD has several benefits, it also has some challenges it’s essential pay attention to.
9. Encourages sustainability and lowers carbon emissions
A. Impact on the environment
By eliminating the requirement for several devices per worker, BYOD may dramatically lessen your organization’s environmental impact. Employees in a typical setting continuously use different devices for work and residential use. Because BYOD enables users to utilize a single device for dual uses, fewer devices have to be produced, which lowers the demand for raw materials, energy, and trash produced during production.
B. A discount in electronic waste
The production of electrical gadgets has a big impact on the environment. Businesses may help cut down on technological waste by enacting a BYOD policy. Employees are more inclined to keep up and upgrade their equipment, extending its lifespan and reducing the necessity for frequent electronic disposal. That is consistent with the three R’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle—principles which might be essential for advancing sustainability.
C. Efficiency in energy use
Moreover, BYOD promotes energy efficiency. Employees often utilize their very own devices more sensibly, which may end up in improved energy management practices like shutting off devices while not in use. However, company-owned electronics are continuously left on, using more energy. The energy needed to create recent gadgets can be conserved because employees already possess and utilize current devices, which reduces the organization’s carbon footprint even further.
D. Endorsing eco-friendly projects
Establishing a BYOD policy may be a step toward living as much as the growing expectations placed on organizations to adopt sustainable practices. Corporations attempting to attract environmentally concerned people and lift their corporate social responsibility (CSR) repute may find this very enticing. Businesses may encourage staff to choose eco-friendly practices and energy-efficient technology as a technique to promote sustainability internally.
2 major disadvantages of BYOD and find out how to tackle them
Let’s take a look at the 2 biggest cons of BYOD and discuss find out how to prepare your organization to tackle them:
1. Security concerns
BYOD increases the safety risk of a company because it lets personal devices access corporate information.
A few of the potential security issues that BYOD creates are:
A. Data theft
BYOD enables employees to attach with their colleagues even outside work hours.
They might use unsecured WiFi, which puts the organization at security risk by exposing company data to hackers.
B. Malware infiltration
Your organization’s devices are frequently well arrange with up-to-date antivirus or firewall software. However, your employees’ devices may not have such robust protection.
Consequently, a BYOD policy that isn’t properly implemented could make your organization more liable to a security breach through malware infiltration.
C. Malicious insiders
Organizations may forget to wipe out corporate data from a BYOD device when an worker leaves the firm. These employees might misuse sensitive information, jeopardizing the corporate’s trade secrets.
D. Lost or stolen device
BYOD requires employees to hold their personal devices to work and back home on working days. This increases the probabilities of theft or misplacement, giving third-party individuals access to all of the business data stored within the device.
Fortunately, you’ll be able to prevent these risks by taking appropriate security measures.
Let’s take a look at a few of them:
- Prohibit your employees from accessing WiFi from public places like airports, cafes, etc.
- Register an worker’s device with the corporate to watch the presence of malware.
- Enable distant wiping of sensitive information from devices of employees who’re leaving the organization.
- Limit worker access to sensitive data based on their designation to enhance BYOD security and eliminate risks related to stolen or lost devices.
- Protect devices using 2-factor authentication apps, setting passwords, stopping download of unsafe apps, etc.
2. Software issues
Lack of consistency amongst worker devices and OS (Operating System) could make it difficult to decide on compatible software.
For instance, software that’s compatible with iOS is probably not compatible with Windows.
You possibly can solve this problem by having a technical support team that’ll help:
- Find suitable software.
- Troubleshoot problems.
- Diagnose software installation and application issues.
- Discover sources of the issue and offer solutions.
Moreover, you may as well set specific standards for worker owned devices on the generation of processor, sort of graphic card, etc., in order that it’s compatible with the software.
Now that we’ve got seen find out how to tackle BYOD risk, let’s take a look at find out how to introduce the system successfully within the workplace.
Easy methods to implement BYOD successfully?
You should be sure that the BYOD program implementation doesn’t leave any gaps for security risks or inefficiencies to creep into.
Listed here are a couple of ways you’ll be able to ensure a successful implementation of BYOD:
- Explain the aim of the BYOD strategy and the way it helps achieve the work purpose to your employees.
- Convey the disciplinary actions that will follow non-compliance with company policies and acceptable use limits.
- Register all worker devices with the corporate.
- Specify the quantity of reimbursement that you simply’ll provide for the device and data plans.
- List really useful or required device types – iPad, iPhone, tablet devices, etc.
- Be certain that the device owner’s data and the organization’s data are kept separate.
- Make certain that an worker can’t transfer company data into their personal storage.
- Create an MDM (Mobile Device Management) policy to forestall misuse of any mobile device.
Final thoughts
BYOD is a versatile system that increases worker satisfaction, productivity and saves overall device costs. Besides, it also helps businesses recruit higher employees and offer flexible work systems like distant or hybrid work.
Nevertheless, implementing a Bring Your Own Device policy in a workplace might be dangerous, making firms vulnerable to vicious threats.
You need to use the preventive measures covered in this text to help throughout the BYOD implementation and be sure that BYOD runs successfully in your organization.
