Make BYOD Your Business’s Asset, Not Its Burden

Like it or not Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is slowly creeping into office culture and will soon become the standard for the majority of businesses. Many business owners are worried about the impact BYOD will have on their employee’s work, particularly the fear that it might result in staff spending more time on social media than concentrating on their work.

If you are reluctant to allow BYOD devices into your workplace, here are some salient points why you should think again, as it could well become one of your business’s key assets:

Flexibility

The days when employees could only work from the office are long gone. Today staff can work from nearly anywhere; at home, on the train, in the airport. Having a BYOD policy that allows smartphones and tablets into the office creates this atmosphere of multiple workplaces and makes it much easier for your staff to work from different locations.

This is becoming increasingly important as more and more skilled and experienced employees are looking for jobs that will allow them to be more flexible with where and when they work, so that if they need to dash off early to collect their kids from school they can still catch up with their work later in the evening at home. Everyone’s happier.

Productivity

Many companies that already have implemented BYOD policies have reported that it has increased their staff’s productivity. Most employees are committed to their work and despite fears that they will spend their entire time on social media this actually often isn’t the case. Instead, most employees are ambitious and keen to get ahead in their careers and, as such, they will be more than likely to use their smartphones and tablets to work smarter and harder.

BYOD also allows employees to add extra hours to their working week, for example if your business has a BYOD policy and an employee has a two hour daily train commute, they can use this time to catch up on emails before they even step into the office enabling them to get on with their work when they do sit down at their desk.

Disaster Mitigation

If employees are unable to get into work due to adverse weather conditions or commuting difficulties, BYOD enables them to work from home. This means that while those businesses without a BYOD policy will find their business disrupted through events outside their control, those that allow personal devices in the workplace will see little or no inconvenience at all.

Business owners rely on their staff being able to work so it makes business sense to have a BYOD policy that will ensure employees can continue working no matter what the external circumstances are.

Cost effectiveness

Very few businesses can afford for all their staff to have tablets and smartphones. However, by letting employees bring their own devices, the company is reaping the benefits of the latest technology with little or no cost to the business. This is particularly important for smaller businesses, which often struggle to meet the increasing costs of keeping up with the latest technological advances.

Devices such as smartphones and tablets are becoming the business norm, so unless your business is utilising these technologies you will soon start to look outdated and unable to stay on the upward curve of contemporary business.

But beware…

Although there are many business advantages to having a BYOD policy, business owners need to be aware of the potential problems they pose as well. The main issue they raise is the risk of security breaches.

Not only are these devices easier for people to hack into but also employees could potentially show sensitive data to third-parties when outside the office. If you’re concerned about the robustness of your business’s approach, check out this free small business digital policy guide which informs business owners about the threats BYOD poses and useful advice on how to counteract these risks.