Bring-your-own-device or BYOD is a concept that has exploded in recent years resulting in an upsurge of BYOD implementation. Earlier enterprises believed in providing their employees with company-owned devices. These devices were intended to be used strictly for work. But with the latest data security solutions, allowing employees to use personal devices for work has become possible. Enterprises worldwide are accepting the concept of BYOD for their businesses.
In a BYOD environment, employees can access corporate resources on their personal devices. It has demonstrated improved productivity and enabled businesses to lower their investment costs.
According to a report, the global BYOD and Enterprise Mobility market will continue to grow and reach US$ 180.8 billion by the year 2027, trailing a post-COVID-19 CAGR of 16.7% over the analysis period 2020 through 2027.
Effective BYOD Implementation Plan
BYOD implementation is on the rise. Before you get started with your BYOD management, you must plan a strong BYOD implementation plan. Here are some factors that businesses must consider for successful BYOD implementation.
- Prioritize Corporate Data Security
Businesses must create stringent security policies for BYOD usage. Employees can be negligent when it comes to their own devices. Businesses need to take security measures such as pushing strong passcode policies, configuring VPNs, restricting download of untrusted apps and surfing malicious websites. It is important to educate employees about the BYOD best practices to keep your corporate data safe.
- Ensure Employee Data Privacy
Businesses always want to stay updated about the corporate information on their devices. Company-owned devices are pre-provisioned with numerous policies and restrictions. However, with BYOD employees’ personal devices cannot be restricted completely. Businesses need to find a way to compartmentalize employees’ personal and corporate data. It is crucial that employees’ personal data and sure experience are not hampered.
- Implement a BYOD Management Tool
The best way to implement your BYOD is with a BYOD management software. It helps you containerize your corporate data on employees’ personal devices. With this, you can execute targeted policy applications to allow your employees the best of both worlds. Picking an MDM solution that is platform agnostic helps your IT teams simplify their BYOD management.
The BYOD implementation has several benefits for businesses. But let’s first understand how the BYOD trend benefits employees:
- Workplace Flexibility
The use of personal devices to access corporate apps and resources allows employees to work remotely. They are not restricted to working within office perimeters. Employees can choose to work from their homes, on-field sites or any other location.
- Increased Employee Productivity
Allowing employees to use their personal devices to execute business tasks adds a sense of comfort. As employees can work flexibly from any location on the devices of their choice, it reflects positively on their productivity. Employees tend to focus better and produce larger outputs in a BYOD setup.
- Choice of Devices
When companies issue devices to their employees, they generally maintain uniformity of the device type and OS. Employees have to adjust to the devices that their employers have provided. In a BYOD environment, employees get to work on the devices of their choice. They can select the latest devices belonging to their favorite brands and OS types without compromise.
- Device Familiarity
Using your personal device is any day easier compared to an unfamiliar company-issues device. Employees are accustomed to the interface of their personal devices. They seldom encounter obstacles in using their own devices and even if they do, they almost always know how to fix them instantly. BYOD saves employees and businesses the time spent learning to operate new devices.
Benefits of BYOD Implementation for Enterprises:
- Better Employee Retention
BYOD helps employees improve their productivity at work. Greater productivity leads to higher work satisfaction in employees. Compelling employees to use company-owned devices and depriving them of workplace flexibility can make your employees feel oppressed and unable to deliver their best. A rigid work environment is a prime reason why employees consider changing their jobs.
- Reduce Workload on IT Support Staff
With company-owned devices, businesses need to spend their IT time on frequent IT support. Employees need hand-hilding with their devices until they get accustomed to them. This is enabled by Desktop as a Service (DaaS) which is the cloud version of Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI). Remote workers can simply log in from their own devices and run a centralized suite of applications through virtual machines from the cloud. This eliminates the need for minimum hardware requirements on the user end — all they need is a stable internet connection and a browser.
BYOD takes away all the hassle related to getting familiarised with the device since employees use their own devices for work. This helps employees to save time on redundant processes and reduces the support workload on the IT teams.
Besides the above-mentioned business benefits of implementing BYOD, enterprises also experience a cost reduction. With BYOD businesses no longer need to invest money in purchasing multitudes of devices for their organization.
How Can Businesses Curtail Costs With BYOD Implementation?
Enterprises believe in taking decisions that lead to optimized processes and efficiencies and reduced
A business’s success relies on the decisions it makes. Decisions to optimize processes, improve efficiencies and reduce costs. BYOD implementation help businesses reduce costs in many ways.
Let’s understand how?
1. Saving Expenses on Hardware
BYOD implementation negates the need for enterprises to purchase individual devices for their employees. Since employees use their personal devices for work, businesses do not have to look after the repairs and maintenance. With soaring prices of the latest mobile devices, the BYOD setup helps businesses save big on investing in bulk devices.
Corporate expenditure on company-owned devices does not end at purchasing the devices. With BYOD, businesses also save costs on recurring OS and app upgrades.
2. Reduced Support & Training
BYOD environment enables businesses to lower their support and maintenance costs. All the repairs, routine maintenance or device issues are taken care of by the employees. Moreover, since employees are already familiar with their devices, IT teams do not have to spend hours training employees. This lowers IT support tickets considerably and frees up IT time. As they say, “time saved is money made”.
3. Telecommunications Savings
Company-owned devices, especially within office perimeters are provisioned with corporate-funded data plans. Data and network charges bear a significant load on an enterprise’s cost investments. In a BYOD setup, employees pay for their own data plans. Companies are not required to fund their data plans saving a huge amount of recurring costs.
4. Cloud-Based Agility
When BYOD is coupled with remote working, several processes rely on cloud computing. According to research, American and British enterprises that adopted cloud computing systems reduced their infrastructure costs by 23 percent. With cloud computing, employees can share files and exchange data remotely. This eliminates the need to invest in files, hard copies, or printing devices to circulate information in the organization.
Closing lines
Looking at the benefits of BYOD environment, it is evident why so many businesses are adopting this trend. Despite the enormous benefits that BYOD presents, corporate data security cannot be overlooked. Allowing employees to work remotely on their personal devices increases the risks of cyberattacks. Accidental malware infiltration and data leakage can cause severe damage to the company.
To make the most of the BYOD environment, it is necessary for enterprises to create strong BYOD policies. Your business can push extensive security policies and create a safe BYOD experience with the help of MDM solutions. Scalefusion MDM offers exceptional BYOD management capabilities for businesses.
