Modern businesses- small or large are today riding a new wave. The world before and after 2020 is never going to be the same and its repercussions have hit our day-to-day lives including the way businesses operate. From complete temporary closure to remote working mandated by the governments across the world, enterprises today have to diversify their operations to accommodate the new normal.
For the companies that were already prepared for the operational changes, the switch to the new working style has been comfortable. But for enterprises that have clung to the conventional methods of operation, it is high time to make the change. Embracing BYOD- bring your own device is one such change that enterprises better make if they haven’t already.
BYOD Business Benefits
The benefits of BYOD are well-known. Apart from being extremely useful in situations where employees are suddenly compelled to work remotely, BYOD is actually cost-effective for enterprises. Employees, when offered the liberty to work with their personal favorites, most likely choose the latest and the best contemporary technology either by device purchases or leasing and the company doesn’t have to worry about the inventory investments. Implementing BYOD also helps in improving employee availability, helps in telecommuting, adds to the total work hours put in by the employee, and is a true win-win.
Read more: How BYOD Drives Business Agility
BYOD adoption stats
According to a survey¹, 69% of the IT decision-makers in the U.S. think that BYOD is incremental for the organization. Yet, the BYOD adoption rate is not so satisfied. Although more than 85% of organizations allow employees to use personal devices at work and for work. But more often than not, this is limited to checking work emails and quickly replying to messages. The overall BYOD adoption rate is yet around 50% in the sense where organizations depend solely on employees using their personal devices for work.
Also read: BYOD Trends in 2019: Its Influence in the Next Five Years
Why enterprises shy away from introducing BYOD is an important aspect to consider.
Concerns over BYOD adoption
Security is one of the biggest concerns for BYOD adoption. Around 39% of the enterprises² suggested that security was a roadblock in their BYOD adoption journey. Provisioning and providing support for diverse devices is another concern that prevents companies from embracing BYOD. Furthermore, employees are also hesitant to ‘bring their own device’ for work because they do not have their private data to be infringed and their employers tracking them is probably the last thing they want.
While these reasons and a lot more are important to consider before implementing BYOD, they should not hold back organizations from making the move. To fit in with the new normal and ensure business continuity, implementing BYOD is critical.
Here’s how enterprises can do it successfully.
How enterprises can successfully implement BYOD
Create a culture of security
The prime concern of BYOD is the security of corporate data. Understand that no amount of security policies can protect your corporate data if your employees do not imbibe a culture of security. If your employees connect their private devices to unknown, unsecured networks or intentionally leak data, or do not impose access control on their personal devices, the security is always in jeopardy. Train your employees on successfully using personal devices for work within or outside the conventional work perimeters.
Starting with change management
As mentioned above, BYOD is a cultural shift. The first starting point is to have a change management team in your organization that will plan the BYOD implementation plan. They will need to figure out the implementation stages, the protocols and also prepare the employee mindset for BYOD. The change management team can then conduct training sessions and AMAs for handling employee queries.
Ensure the privacy of employee data
Employees having concerns over their privacy being lost after BYOD management is real. Create trust within the employees that their privacy is going to stay intact with BYOD management and make them understand how BYOD can provide them with flexibility. Be transparent with the BYOD management tool and help the employees understand which parameters and data on their devices will be tracked and which will not be. This will give the employees much-needed confidence to participate in the BYOD implementation program.
Have contingency plan
Understand, rectify and plan what happens to the corporate data and apps when employees leave the organization. Create a robust policy for employee exit as well as for unforeseen situations including device loss or theft.
Choose the right BYOD management tool
There’s no way you can implement BYOD without the right BYOD MDM tool. Check if your current MDM provider offers the BYOD capabilities that you are looking for. If you are just starting out with mobility, choose an MDM solution that has comprehensive solutions for corporate-owned as well as BYO devices. You don’t want your IT teams to be burdened with handling different tools to handle different ownership and management modes. Also, choose an MDM solution that is platform agnostics to enable employees to use any devices of their choice. Ensure your BYOD tool has extensive capabilities to separate out and selectively monitor corporate data.
Read more: 5 Ways MDM is Empowering Companies to Adopt Successful BYOD
Scalefusion MDM for BYOD
Scalefusion offers BYOD management for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows 10 devices that helps organizations manage a diverse device fleet irrespective of the platform. Scalefusion BYOD is designed to leverage the best of employee devices while ensuring the employee data is unharmed, employee experience is intact and IT teams are not overworked with the whole implementation.
Check out: Why Choose Scalefusion to Manage your BYOD program?
Understand that BYOD is a one-time activity that has a long-lasting impact on your organizational efficiency and security, make wise moves and choose a trusted BYOD implementation partner for the same.
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