Friday, January 15, 2016

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is now a buzzword in a multitude of industries – telecom industry, software industry, health sector and education sector to name a few. As the name implies, BYOD is the method of empowering associates of an organization to make use of their own gadgets, for example, laptop, mobile phone, tablets or other similar gadgets in a work environment. As with every other technology, BYOD also comes with its own list of merits and demerits. However, merits overtake demerits which make it appealing to industries.

Merits of adopting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

  1. Increased productivity
  2. Cost-cutting benefits, including lower support costs
  3. Flexibility
  4. Saves time
  5. Attractiveness to job hunters
BYOD brings to table merits like productivity, the cost-cutting benefit to employers when workforces make use of their own gadgets. Studies reveal that when associates adopt BYOD, they can perform a task when they are on the move or stay connected.
They can also accumulate extra time all through the day to attend to job-related tasks. A Recent survey conducted by IBSG reveals that BYOD user across different nations can save up to 37 minutes per week by making use for his or her own gadget. Associate in the US is expected to gain maximum benefit, as high as 81 minutes per week. For organizations which have the very large workforce, minutes per week is sure to stack to hours per week. BYOD also renders the work life of associates, even more, expedient; it emphasizes the flexibility, forward-thinking attitude of employees. It would also foster self-esteem which in turn inspires the associates to do more work.
Having good connectivity to connect to the network, i.e. WiFi access both inside and outside the office, results in more time to perform the task. Associates can work for an extended duration and work with even more vigor as they are given access to BYOD. By adopting relevant mobility management approach and tools, support costs would be lesser.
By implementing an organizational BYOD strategy, potential candidates will be more attracted to the job profile. A Recent survey revealed that 44% of job seekers would be more attracted to an organization which enables them to make use of their own gadgets.
BYOD also helps to perform a task from anywhere at any time. Employees can also check emails before reaching office and this helps in planning the activities for the day well in advance and in saving time. It is also pretty comfortable to work with your own gadget as you will be familiar with the device and need no time to understand about the hardware.
Some of the other advantages associated with BYOD are reduced gadget management requirements, improved business continuity, faster onboarding of associates and third parties.
It is anticipated that underserved SMBs will thrive to be the emphasis of the key BYOD technology and service providers. By adopting BYOD, scalable, self-service elucidations would empower SMBs to understand the BYOD advantages that have formerly been earmarked for big enterprises alone. By effectively utilizing the amalgamation of Android for Work, iOS, and competition from latest service and tech firms will enable to direct cost-effective resolutions to drive SMB market.
Telecom sector anticipates enterprise requirement for BYOD solutions to ramp up by 25% this year and ten to twenty-five percentage hike in productivity for the organization. Organizations like Verizon, AT&T are already leading the BYOD revolution. However, BYOD can result in new intricacies for both the organization and the service provider who wish to back aspects like security, joint loyalty and data plans and differentiated QoS. If right approach is not implemented, BYOD can result in excessive bandwidth use and more IT support charges.

Demerits of adopting Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

  1. Data security
  2. Privacy
Data security is considered as one of the main issues associated with BYOD. Organizations need to carry out a complete risk assessment against different risks and need to intensify security consequently. Firms need to make sure that WiFi is safe and every one can effortlessly gain access to it. Other improvements that can be implemented consist of the following: anti-malware, encryption, passcodes, sandboxing and the like which empower firms to gain the usability merits of BYOD while maintaining company data as secure. CFOs and CIOs will become key investors in handling BYOD.
Most of the associates who bring their own gadget for work objectives would be worried about their own privacy.  The same gadget that they use for doing work related to the organization will be used to surf the internet or to log into Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Associates are cautious about firms which could spy on them and gain access to personal info like passwords, websites, and the like.
The best way forward for firms is to apprehend the hazards and maximize the merits by adopting methods like multiple logins and compartmentalization, app virtualization and sandboxing, BYOD endpoint security. This will help the organization to make maximum utilization of BYOD.

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