Among small businesses there is a trend to let their employees bring their own notebooks, tablets or mobile phones. Bring-your-own-device (BYOD) is what such a policy is called. This policy brings your business the benefit of lower startup costs, since there is a much lower hardware and software investment. Therefore it can be an effective way of lowering costs. Furthermore, employees are more familiar with the system they have used for a long time and may know best how to handle its systemic issues.
Security risks
When employees use their personal devices, there is an information security issue. You are more vulnerable to information leaks, because you have less control over the devices being used. Both intentional and accidental breaches of security are a real threat. Surfing webs, attachments sent by e-mails, malware, spyware, torrents… everything is at a much greater risk when you cannot administer the software of devices your employees bring to their offices. If BYOD policy is your decision, keep these consequences in mind.
Issues linked to productivity
Employees, when using personal devices, are more tempted to use it for personal activities. They will log in Facebook and Twitter, read and send personal e-mails and possibly play their games. That is why it is possible that there will be some productivity losses induced by BYOD policy.
Standardization
When BYOD policy is applied, there can be some troubles connected to various software versions. Because your employees probably use different forms of software across several platforms, file formatting can become incompatible. Different formats of text and presentation files are not the worst issue. In case your business relies on software available only for PC and some of your employee use Mac computers, that can be a little more tricky issue. The possibility of these problems must be taken into account.
What is your experience with BYOD policy?
-jk-