The single biggest factor in determining whether or not your organization should implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy is cost. Will it save you money? Keeping that in mind, a thorough cost and benefit analysis should be executed before any decisions are made or any policies are permanently put in place. An IT consulting service can help you with these choices, bringing their experience and expertise to the table. Here is a list of five things to consider before an effective Mobility and BYOD solutions policy to be made:
- Security – Perhaps the biggest cost involved in BYOD is in the need for increased training and cross-training of your enterprise security and help desk staff. Many policies and procedures will need to be written just to accommodate the content they will require. Also, new user documentation will need to be written regarding the new security initiatives. Security is a major trouble spot for many companies. Do not overlook this factor. Take the time and effort to research this area completely so that you don’t sacrifice long-term safety for short-term reward by skipping this task.
- Cost of Company Owned Devices – The area of cost that can really be trimmed is what your company will save by not having to issue a company-owned Blackberry, tablet, and laptop to every single employee with a user ID and password. A good start is to have your accounting staff and IT department work together on coming up with a total figure that includes extra items like service plans and accessories.
- Employee Morale and Productivity – Nothing is worse for an employee than when they have a bright and shiny Macbook Air with all the bells and whistles on their desk at home and they’re given an outdated, bulky, and slow PC to hammer away on for work. Most companies see a serious increase in employee productivity when workers are allowed to use their own devices. There is also a familiarity factor involved here for most workers, meaning that employees already know everything about their own equipment, and can therefore do things much faster than if they had to get familiar with a whole new operating system first.
- Better Customer Service – Granting corporate access to your employee’s devices usually has a trickle down effect of them embracing more accountability in regards to superior customer service. Workers tend to be more willing to respond quickly to customer requests at almost any given time when they can do so from their own device. Work/life balance tends to be more fully achieved by employees enjoying their work as part of their identity, rather than trying to balance the two separately.
- Policy Development – A good way to minimize some of the risk involved with developing an effective BYOD policy can be by outsourcing the task. Rather than increasing the workload of a trusted project manager, who is probably already overworked, you may want to seek the services of a skilled and professional BYOD consultant to implement the best policy development for your organization.
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