By Natalia David, Guest Contributor to TechAddiction
Bring Your Own Device or BYOD has stirred a heated discussion on blogs, corporate and technical discussion forums since it has become a norm in the professional world. Employers have initiated the practice of asking employees to use their personal devices, such as laptops, smart phones and tablets for official work as well. They have been instructed to bring their machines along with them to the office. Employees readily follow this instruction, as it saves them time and hassle to carry separate machines for work and home.
According to a recent survey, almost 81% of employees in the U.S bring their own devices to the office. Still employees fear using their personal devices at work, as they are hesitant to install employee monitoring software on their devices. Before moving any further, let’s see why BYOD is useful for employers.
Why companies crave BYOD
Money makes the most important reason behind the use of BYOD programs in offices, as it cuts down the cost incurred by companies. A survey carried out by Good Technology State of BYOD states that almost 50% of companies with BYOD models instruct their employees to pay for the cost of their devices. This in return reduces company bills, more so because employees purchase devices with their own money.
The second most important factor is the compatibility of employees with their devices. Employees feel comfortable working with their own devices at work, since they are used to the functions of the system. iPass has revealed in a survey that employees who use their personal devices for official work, contribute approximately 240 hours of more work than those who have separate machines for work and home.
Turning the table
With all the advantages of BYOD, there are certain drawbacks that need to be taken care of. The most obvious of all reasons is the fear of security. Like the cell phone spy software, it is imperative for the companies to avoid malware, as the devices in the office are interconnected and once infected will cause damage to the entire network. Moreover, there is a major concern about theft of data, which can leave a firm crippled in its wake.
Another major hurdle is the issue of acceptable use of devices. The machines provided by the company come with the acceptable use policy, which is not the case with the use of personal machines. Also, data retrieving becomes an issue when an employee is leaving the company. Unlike the cell phone monitoring software, having monitoring software on computers does not mean that the official data stored in them will not be transferred to another machine.
In a nutshell
Employers have to face various issues while allowing the employees to bring their machines from home to work. Although this is quite beneficial for the company in economic terms, there is a great threat of data theft and misuse of secret files and information. Technological researchers are trying to find ways to minimize the threats, so that maximum utilization of this program can be made possible.