As more employees use their personal devices for work-related purposes—known now as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)—the benefits and potential pitfalls of this trend are being debated. But the reality is that many workers are simply adopting the policy without asking anybody and companies are finding out on the fly that BYOD is now a part of their workplace environment.
If you have decided to embrace BYOD for your business—or if some of your employees have made the choice for you—there are a few key points to keep in mind:
Adopt device agnostic technology
The point of BYOD is to give workers the chance to work on whatever device they feel comfortable with, thus increasing productivity. The strategy doesn’t make a lot of sense if your employees can’t access the information they need from a wide variety of devices. Consider a cloud-based phone service, for instance, that allows employees to access information from a laptop, smartphone or tablet.
Establish best practices
Oftentimes, security issues and information breaches are the result of employees who simply aren’t aware of the risks inherent in accessing private, company information on a company device. Make sure workers understand their responsibilities with regard to guarding any device they have used for work and the importance of strong password protection.
Start a dialogue
If your workers are in favor of brining their own device, have an open conversation about their expectations for privacy. At some point, you may need to adopt monitoring solutions to protect your information and the quickest way to start workplace trouble is to do it without talking to employees first.
BYOD can provide companies with major benefits, from employee satisfaction to reduced expenses for company devices. If you take the necessary steps toward a successful policy, your company can reap those rewards. Now you are on your way!