Businesses can save money with new trend, but need to be aware of security issues
As technology advances and businesses have to provide employees with smartphones, laptops and tablets to ensure they maintain the same productivity levels as competitors, expenditure on such hardware can eat into a company’s budget.
Yet considering that many people already own such items, the ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) trend appears to be growing in popularity, as workers are encouraged to use their personal gadgets in the workplace.
Indeed, employees who do so can save their employers money on two levels, as businesses will not have to pay to purchase such technology, and will also not bear the cost of training courses for those who are already well versed in the functions of their devices.
"The main benefit of employees using their own devices is a reduction in capital expenditure for the business," said Dominic Jones, managing director at Barton Technology.
Yet as the BYOD trend grows in popularity, companies will also face the difficulty of ensuring that their data is not exposed when individuals use their smartphones and tablets outside of the workplace.
As such, properly securing files used on a worker’s personal system is likely to be more difficult than enforcing standard network protection measures, but there are services that can facilitate this.
The secure online backup of records and information on cloud networks could serve as one of the ways to safeguard a business’ privacy if it decides to encourage its employees to use their own devices, and this could be vital to prevent any data breaches or loss of essential files.
While companies look for new areas in which they can limit their expenditure given the current economic climate, promoting BYOD will have to account for these potential issues if it is to prove successful and efficient.
By taking the appropriate security measures, businesses could see themselves having to dedicate fewer funds to their technology expenditure budget and focus more on other areas.