Bringing your own device to work is not a new concept and ever since the invention of PC’s people have in some way been able to bring or use their own devices for work but the recent shift in technology to the cloud has brought this matter to the forefront and many people use the benefits of BYOD without even really noticing: the smartphone that picks up work apps and emails, the laptop at home connected via RDP to a terminal server, they all count as BYOD.
The biggest problem is deciding what approach to take with regards to BYOD and once you have decided there are so many devices on the market that supporting them becomes impractical at best so deciding to use BYOD needs to be carefully considered. It seems that employees do not only own more devices but want to bring them to work and where possible have access to them which asks the question: Should companies be allowing the devices in the first place?
This subject fits perfectly into the work/personal life balance argument as well, the argument being that flexible options provided by employers need to account for the employees desire to have a more flexible framework for their employment. This leaves the company with a need to plug gaps in security and the chance of viruses accessing the system are greater, users are not generally well educated enough to recognize and protect themselves with general internet safety and security. These issues are common and understandably troublesome for employers when deciding on strategies of this type. We are moving into an era where talent acquisition and more importantly retention is the key for businesses of all sizes and instead of offering just financial packages companies do have to compete in other areas.
Another downside to using BYOD as part of a business strategy is how a company would control, support and maintain BYOD connectivity due to a never ending range of devices, operating system types and security access levels. The potential for data loss is high as many people do not correctly secure their devices and without the ability to control their use how would a company monitor and police the abuse of social media and personal communications? The aspects of time control and staff efficiency will undoubtedly have a huge bearing on the decisions that employers make.
In 2012 the office of national statistics surveyed IT directors for 50 enterprise level companies and all of them agreed that they would not offer BYOD as a mainstream option. This doesn’t mean however that BYOD has absolutely no place in a company’s strategy and the current trend sees the release of more devices that bridge the gap between business and personal use so BYOD will not be going away any time soon. Security and support will remain an issue but there are ways to address concerns like this and the answer often lies in the cloud, hosted desktops can be controlled and centrally administered so that the employee is literally just using their device as a screen meaning there is no need to allow an unsecured device to connect directly to your network in order for them to access work data.
All in all it seems that allowing employees to use their own devices can be a very positive step but does require the proper planning to be safe and successful. The potential for employers to use BYOD has increased with the demand for personal devices and if technologies such as hosted desktop are applied then the company can use the benefits of BYOD with less of the security concerns. Finding a common benefit to both employers and employees is essential, the solutions are there to be utilised so it just comes down to making the right choices for your company.
VirtualTin can provide any IT company with its own hosted desktop business and a partner to work with in providing the solution plus expert advice on how to utilise the full strengths of a hosted desktop platform.
(Image source BT.com)
