What is BYOD (bring your own device)?
BYOD is an abbreviation for “bring your own device,” which occurs when employees use their personal smartphones, tablets, or computers as their workplace devices. Since many employees own their smartphones and prefer to use them for both personal and work use, the term BYOD was coined to refer to employee-provided technology in the workplace.
Traditionally, organizations would provide employees with the tools they needed to do their work, including computers, but with smartphones in particular, many organizations found that their employees want to use their personal portable devices, particularly smartphones, to connect to workplace applications such as email.
Why employees like BYOD
Since many individuals already own and use a smartphone, they are more familiar with their particular model and brand. Employees can use their smartphone to connect to company email, telephone directories, and web applications and use the portable device they're most comfortable and familiar with using. If a smartphone is a job requirement, BYOD lets the employee get the benefit of carrying only one smartphone instead of one for work and one for personal use.
In addition to using a familiar device, the employee has the convenience of a smartphone with their personal email, calendar, contacts, and applications in their hand. At first glance, allowing employees to have a personal device with them instead of an employer owned device might seem risky, since the employee could do personal tasks on the device. But in reality, BYOD has resulted in employees taking their work with them almost anywhere, even on weekends and vacations. Employees can end up being “too” connected and have trouble ignoring a work email when it appears on their personal smartphone, even if they are on vacation.
Advantages of BYOD for the organization
For the employer, BYOD can result in the cost savings from avoiding the need to purchase equipment that the employee is providing. If the employer wants employees to have smartphones for work, it could very expensive to equip their workforce with hardware and repair service.
With a personal, versus a company provided smartphone, the employee is responsible if the device breaks down or needs repair. The repair costs are the employee responsibility and expense.
Most organizations with a large network of computers pay technical support staff to maintain the technology that employees use on the job. In a BYOD business office, the maintenance is up to the owner. While the support staff proves help for the employee to connect their smartphone to the employer network and applications, the actual support and repair of the device itself is up to an employee, not the employer.
Disadvantages of BYOD
BYOD can potentially create one big problem for an employer, the security of the organization's information technology systems. With employee provided equipment connecting to the employer network, the employer needs to have information security policies and technology that protects organization data from access by a lost or stolen device. As a result, BYOD policies often require that employer can wipe all data from any employee device if it is reported stolen or lost. Depending on the necessary security, the technical support costs can make BYOD more expensive that employer provided equipment.
For the employee, as mentioned earlier, using one device for both personal and work use creates a new problem of managing time. When an email message is just a tap away, it's often easy to switch from personal use to work use when using a smartphone. You might know someone who is always connected to their work because they can't wait until the morning to answer a work email. A good practice that many employees have put in place is to have a discussion with their manager about expectations around work related email and messages while not “at” work.
To my way of thinking
BYOD isn't going away. It can save equipment costs for the employer and employees often prefer using their personal technology while at work. However, many organizations have sensitive data and will decide that employer-owned technology is the best way to control who can connect to the organization's data.
Other organizations will decide that allowing BYOD is a way to increase productivity from employees mixing work and personal use of their own portable devices.
If you are self-employed, you're already using BYOD if you use a smartphone or portable device for personal and work use, you just might not have know that's what it's called and didn't realize it.
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