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Bring your own (mobile) device (BYOD): Big reasons it may hurt your business

Summary: This may end up being cheaper, flexible IT, but it won’t work for every business – let’s see why???

Letting your employees use their own smartphones, laptops and tablets may make them happier,  cut business costs and even attract new talented employeees– but there are disadvantages too.

Here’s some reasons why:

1. It most likely won’t reduce your costs

IT directors worry that BYOD will cause IT costs to “become uncontrollable”,  because companies will lose the ability to cut expenses through bulk buying and national discounts, they can end up paying more for call and data plans, especially if employees can claim these as expenses.

2. Employess hate paying for business “stuff”

BYOD is attractive for employers because they can use it as a way to get staff to pay for the tools they need to do their jobs.

So…near 40 percent of tablets are bought, by people who intend to use them only at work. However, if employer’s don’t offer reimbursement, many employees will reject BYOD because they  realise they are effectively paying their employer costs.

3. It makes it harder for the IT

Allowing employees use their own devices could rapidly turn into a headache. Becasue these deveices will be utilized to touch “company data” IT will be the first point of resolve in MANY cases.

Add to this new security measures to cope with the influx of consumer devices is another large costs which could incude:

  • mobile data protection,
  •  network access control and mobile device management,
  • costs of configuring access privileges on an individual device basis.

4. Corporate issues – Lack of Uniformity

Allowing BYOD can inadvertently create an uneven playing field between employees. based on compensation one worker may be able to spend more money on a high-end device so they can get their work done quicker, this may lead to resentment – as  as other workers scramble to catch up.

If employees find themselves having to spend more of their own moneyto keep up with their colleagues – that’s could be afor morale (even if productivity rockets) detroyer.

5. Security problems

Security is one of the biggest issues with BYOD because allowing consumer devices onto corporate networks brings significant risks – unless managed correctly. And even bigger risks for employees who are dealing with sensitive personal or business info.

Strict and enforceable guidelines for employees, and that means staff have to be vigilant about security, whether they  are using their device for work or personal.

Because the IT has less control over the personal devices used by employees,  individuals will have to ensure their devices are patched, encrypted, and have up-to-date antivirus software running.

6. Data loss – BIG RISK

The risk that sensitive data could be placed on employees devices, and lost can be SIGNIFICANT. While there is plenty of mobile-device management software that can reduce the risk, employees may be reluctant to grant IT access and oversight to what is their own device (personla reasons). CIO’s and CTO’s must be careful to protect corporate data (by doing a remote wipe when someone leaves the organization) without running the risk of compromising the individual’s data too (by wiping all their personal photos at the same time).

7. Short-term gain with a possible long-term pain

The upside  is going out and getting a shiny new device to display too thers in the office. And it’s even better if a corporate BYOD policy means it’s subsidised, too, which is why BYOD has been so attractive to employees.

But in day-to-day life it may be different. The problem is…once staff have spent the money, they’re on their own, and IT – and the boss – won’t be pleased if their work performance suffers because they’ve chosen bad tools OR SOFTWARE INCOMPATIBILITIES.

8. It’s a licensing and legal DISASTER WATING TO HAPPEN

Switching to BYOD means you have to keep an eye on licensing too. Companies need to make sure enough licences are available, which can eat into expense control.

Under some licences, the software can only be installed on devices owned by the business, which is another complication. Some other legal issuesis it remain’s “cloudy” for who would be liable if a device used both in work and at home was also used for illegal downloading.

9. Consumer devices will hurt productivity!!!

There’s a reason why business devices are boring – they’re for business, not pleasure. Your decison may encourage employees to bring devices that are more suited to watching videos, playing games and keeping up to date with their digital social lives, if so…they will do exactly that!.

Take a minute or 10,000 to reaaly thinnk about what is best for productivity and efficiency before making a poor choice which will impact the company profits.