Three Reasons to Embrace Mobile Devices (BYOD) for Your Organization

If your organization has been resistant to allowing employees to bring their own mobile devices to work, it’s time to rethink this policy.

Some companies are afraid of perceived BYOD security risks and are reluctant to sanction the use of random smartphones and tablets among rank and file workers. Other organizations do not relish the idea of letting their IT department give up control over what equipment employees are authorized to use, aiming for consistency over freedom and convenience.

Benefits of Adopting a BYOD Policy

When you allow employees to bring their own devices to work, you are demonstrating that you trust their judgment and appreciate the value of letting them work with the mobile equipment that they feel most comfortable using.

You can save money on your IT infrastructure, since employees are in charge of purchasing their devices and paying the monthly service fees to their cellular data services provider. Even if you cover any or all of the costs, it’s still less expensive to let members of your team use their own devices instead of budgeting for standard equipment across the board.

Employees can do work beyond the traditional 9 to 5, Monday through Friday, schedule more easily when they have the freedom to use their own device. While they may not be very enthusiastic about answering a late-night email from a customer or a boss, if their job description calls for fast response times, they’d prefer to use their own smartphone rather than having to come into the office.

Security Implications to Consider

Data Leaks

With a BYOD policy, you must contend with heightened risk from data leakage. It’s best to establish clear acceptable use policies that instruct employees to keep their devices updated and patched. Explain the consequences if they fail to follow policy, such as losing their BYOD privileges.

Failure to Properly Care for Devices

Employees who aren’t diligent about safeguarding their mobile devices pose a security risk. They may lose their device while out in the field, exposing your company’s sensitive data to a criminal that finds the smartphone.

Require employees to let your IT department gain remote wiping capability so it can delete data from the mobile device without first getting permission from the owner, letting you safeguard files and network access immediately when the smartphone is lost or stolen.

Mixture of Private and Business Data

Employees will use their own devices to check their personal email accounts, do online banking and make purchases, as well as surf the net for news and entertainment. But when they do so, they run the risk of unwittingly downloading malware that could compromise not only their own data but that of your organization as well.

Your computing strategies should require the use of enterprise mobility management software, enabling IT to keep tabs on all BYOD equipment. You will also want to instill two-factor authentication to use one-time, temporary passwords or codes every time they log in to the device.

Work with Experts

It’s clear that the benefits of embracing BYOD outweigh any outdated security concerns that organizations may still hold. When employees have the freedom to use their preferred mobile devices, you can expect to see improved morale and a boost in productivity.

Organizations will benefit from partnering with an experienced systems integrator, like DynTek, to help with IT security strategies including BYOD. DynTek understands the subtle nuances of mobile technology and how it will function best in any particular organization. The team at DynTek works with top-tier technologies to determine the best approach to secure your organization’s entire network, and protect it from internal and external threats.