Technology is an essential tool for all businesses and if you implement the right strategy, you can save money and improve efficiency at the same time. Business technology is always changing and one of the latest trends that a lot of companies are adopting is the bring your own device policy. Instead of supplying computers and tablets for all of your employees, people are allowed to bring their own with them.
This is becoming more common and there are a lot of great benefits to it. However, there are a lot of potential downsides as well, and it is important that you are aware of those dangers before you decide whether it is right for your business or not. These are some of the biggest pros and cons of bring your own device policies in business.
Reduced Technology Costs
Reduced technology costs is perhaps the biggest and most obvious benefit of allowing employees to use their own devices. As a business owner, you should always be looking for ways to cut your costs, and your technology budget is a good place to start. Computers need to be upgraded on a regular basis if you want to avoid productivity and maintenance issues, and fitting out the entire office with a brand new computer is incredibly expensive. But if a large percentage of your employees are supplying their own computers, you can cut this cost considerably. You are no longer responsible for upgrading computers and paying for voice and data plans or licensing fees, which saves you a lot of money every year.
Cutting Edge Features and Devices
Due to the financial constraints, businesses cannot always upgrade to the latest tech as soon as it becomes available. However, individuals tend to upgrade devices and software more regularly. This means that your business benefits from access to the latest devices and features, which has a big positive impact on productivity. Although not all of your employees will upgrade to the latest tech, a lot of them will and your business will thrive as a result. In some cases, you may benefit from offering small amounts of funding to employees that want to upgrade. Covering part of the cost is still cheaper than supplying devices to every employee, and you can make sure that everybody is using the latest technology.
Improved Productivity
When people are using a new device, it takes time for them to get to grips with it and, in some cases, they may not like the way that it works. People are most productive when they are using the tools that they prefer. Allowing people to use their own devices, which they are familiar with and comfortable using, means that technology issues are far less common and people tend to be a lot more productive.
Less Need For Training
If you want to get the most out of your business technology, it is important that you put effective training plans in place. However, this is expensive and it also leads to downtime in your business while people get to grips with new technology. But if people are using their own devices, there is no need to do this. In some cases, you will still need to offer training. But, for the most part, people will be using devices and software that they have chosen and already know how to use.
Improved Capacity For Remote Working
Remote working is becoming incredibly popular in all industries because it benefits businesses and their employees. It saves you a lot of money in office running costs if employees are able to work from home, and a lot of people find that they are more productive and generally happier when they can work in their own environment in a way that suits them. However, it is vital that you implement the right technology policies if you want to get the most out of remote working.
A bring your own device policy allows people to move seamlessly from working at home to working in the office. There are no concerns about compatibility between devices because they are using the same device at all times and it is easy for people to take their work home with them. If you want to implement remote working in your business, it is vital that you have a good bring your own device policy in place.
Security Issues
Potential security issues are the biggest downside to bring your own device policies. When you are buying all of your own devices and they never leave the office, your IT team can always ensure that they have the most up to date security software installed and all sensitive data is stored in a secure way. However, when people are using their own devices, you do not have that guarantee. If you check out these alarming cyber security stats, you will see that a lot of security breaches are the result of human error, like clicking on phishing emails, for example. When you have full control over your devices, you can make sure that people have software in place to identify phishing emails, but when people are using their own devices, you don’t. This is just one example of the security concerns around bringing your own device policies.
You also need to be very careful about access to sensitive information when people are using their own devices. If people are taking devices out of the office with documents stored on them, there is a big security risk there, especially if they are connecting to public wifi with poor security. However, you can get around these security issues if you have restrictions on access and everybody’s device is checked by the IT team to ensure that they have adequate security software in place.
Potential Software Issues
Although using their own devices with their own software can make life easier for employees, it can cause issues. If there are certain pieces of software that your employees need to use, like sales automation software, for example, your employees need to install that software on their own device. But what happens if their device is not compatible with that software? Compatibility issues are quite common where bringing your own device policies are concerned and it is important that you consider this when choosing software for your business.
