Optimising your Workflow: The Opportunities and Challenges of BYOD

As technology has rapidly advanced, many businesses have begun to adapt consumer software for their own use: 85% of companies now allow their workforce to use their own devices to complete work both in the office and on the go, meaning BYOD can easily become a natural part of your business. Almost every employee comes to the office with their smartphone in hand, so it makes sense from a financial and productivity perspective for a successful BYOD strategy to become part of day to day working life. These emerging technologies aren’t without their risks, however; understanding the dangers involved with remote working and BYOD means that you can always stay ahead of the trends and threats.

How can BYOD benefit your business?

A tech-educated workforce

As awareness around BYOD has grown, the attraction to staying constantly connected has started being talked about more and more. Whether you think a constant stream of technology is a good thing or not, there’s no denying that the majority of us are never far away from a phone, laptop or tablet – so bringing these devices into the office through BYOD is a natural next step. One benefit of this constancy is the ease with which so many of us use our smartphones. Keeping up with the latest phone updates and releases may not be good for our budgets, but it definitely means we find it easier to adapt to new technologies and the technical capabilities these new trends bring. Using these devices regularly means that your workforce is naturally becoming tech-educated, which can only be a welcome eventuality of BYOD. If your employees are using BYOD to work with technology they are already comfortable with, the actual work being engaged with will naturally be sleeker and more quickly produced.

Reduced costings through BYOD

No matter how big or small your team, the cost of new equipment is always going to make a considerable dent in your finances. Another opportunity that comes with BYOD is that the responsibility of hardware lies with the employee, not the employer. In this way, if your workforce already have smart devices at their fingertips, BYOD could potentially save both you and your team a significant amount of capital.

New levels of employee contentment

With the notion of flexible hours working its way into the mainstream workforce, the adaptability that BYOD brings to your company is something that should be highly valued. Now more than ever, having an awareness of a work-life balance is being understood as something incredibly important to our happiness. With employees able to have their work in their pocket, BYOD allows this balance to be more easily achieved than ever. By handing technological control to your staff with BYOD, a level of trust is also created that naturally paves the way for employee contentment.

What challenges come with BYOD?

Security risks and concerns

It probably goes without saying that the biggest risk associated with BYOD is the limited security that comes with an increased amount of people accessing important data from wherever and whatever they are working from. While this is an important factor to always keep in mind while considering a move to BYOD, there are a number of security measures that you can put into place to make sure your data doesn’t come under threat. From solutions as simple as implementing password locks across any devices you are using for BYOD, to a thorough gap analysis of the potential dangers you’re facing, having an awareness of the issues surrounding remote working will make sure you are always one step ahead of potential cyber threats. Having a solid BYOD security strategy that you and your staff can refer back to is a great way of making sure you aren’t letting your data become vulnerable.

Staff understanding and awareness

As you will already know, GDPR compliance requires organisations to make sure their data is fully protected, so with the onset of new trends like BYOD, data breaches can be incredibly damaging to your company’s reputation. While BYOD is an innovative new way to create trust and contentment within your workforce, your staff may not be aware of the risks involved with regular data transfers across a number of devices, meaning that accidental data loss is always a possibility. What’s more, training your team to manage the professional alongside the private when utilising BYOD isn’t always straightforward. However, with comprehensive user training and an understanding of the technologies available to your business, the flexible and scalable advantages of BYOD far outweigh the potential dangers these new methods of working bring.

At CIS, we are as equally informed by emerging technologies as we are focused on protecting your business’s online security. Contact us today for reliable guidance on staying ahead of trends like BYOD that are changing the way your workforce operates.