How to Do BYOD Right

BYOD: (Bring Your Own Device)

A trend allowing employees to use their own personal devices, like smartphones, tablets and laptops, for work purposes.

of organizations already have mobility policies in place to accommodate BYOD.

60%

70%of employers reported their

workers’ productivity increased thanks to BYOD.

Advantages of BYOD include:

Efficiency

Productivity

Employee Satisfaction

Lower Equipment Costs

Accessibility

However, there are some barriers.

Viruses

Data Breaches

Other Risks

Loss of Devices

IT departments tend to fear:

What’s more frightening is that employees are prone to using personal devices for work,

even without permission and set BYOD policies. This is certainly risky, but employees

today are desperate to use technology they are familiar and comfortable with, even

if it’s against the rules.

Do BYOD The Right Way

So why not make rules that accommodate this employee need, while also addressing security concerns? Create a BYOD policy.

1. Make sure you know and define the purpose of your policy.

What are your intentions? Cost savings? Increased productivity?

Whatever your reason is, communicate this to your team.

2. Training is important!

While most users already know how to effectively use their devices, they might not know how to take the appropriate steps to ensure security. Establish the best practices of using a personal device for work,

and train employees on data loss prevetion, creating effective passwords, locking devices, etc.

3. Decide if you want to limit the options.

This is up to your business, but by specifying what types of devices employees can use, support and

security become much easier. You can also keep a list of which devices and users are permitted to access

corporate information to better monitor activity.

4. Decide whether or not your IT department services personal devices.

This adds more responsibility to the IT team, and requires knowledge of all sorts of devices, but it also

keeps things in-house.

5. With personal devices comes personal data. Know who owns what!

You must create expectations about having personal content on a device used for work, in case it’s lost or stolen and needs to be wiped. Additionally, decide whether or not corporate data can be stored

on a device’s hard drive.

6. Decide and define how you will control user access to corporate information.

Will you establish which apps, programs, services and websites your employees can use? Will you create levels of access within your environment? Whatever you decide, communicate this to your

employees and then stick to it.

7. What are the consequences?

These are rules, so you need to decide how to address rulebreakers. Make sure employees know

they will be held accountable for straying from the BYOD policy.

8. Have an exit strategy.

You want to make sure that employees who leave the job don’t take your corporate data with them! Create specific procedures, which might include removing

their network access, wiping devices, etc.

BYOD addresses the rising need for employees to be mobile

and more productive.

They will appreciate the ability to customize how and where they work. With a BYOD policy, businesses will rest easier knowing

there’s a level of transparency and specific rules to point to when employees have questions.

By clearly communicating company BYOD policies, a business will build

trust and good rapport with employees while ensuring that

company information remains safe.