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Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD, refers to an increasingly popular IT solution for businesses. BYOD allows employees to bring their personal computing devices — cell phones, laptops, tablets, etc. — to work and use them instead of using company-supplied devices.
With City-Com’s help, your employees can receive calls and conduct video conferencing. from their own devices without your business buying and maintaining new desktop phones
BYOD offers many benefits to businesses and this blog will highlight those benefits and considerations for you.
Benefits of BYOD
Save Money
“With a well-managed strategy, BYOD can certainly bring cost savings and boost productivity.” — Insight for Professionals
Cost efficiency is among the primary reasons companies decide to implement a BYOD policy. While there are additional IT and security expenditures that businesses will incur to keep things running safely and smoothly, a proper setup will ensure long-term savings.
Allow for a Mobile Workforce
If your line of work requires employees to work from outside the walls of the physical business, or if you’d like your employees to be able to work from home, a BYOD policy is a viable solution.
City-Com can set up your telecommunications systems so that phone calls to employees go through their personal smart devices, as opposed to a hardwired phone on their desk.
Using apps like Panasonic’s Mobile Softphone, all the audio and visual communications employees need to perform can be done safely on their device with an app that’s registered as a company extension.
Boost Employee Satisfaction
No one wants to carry around multiple cell phones, laptops, or tablets. That’s a big reason why almost 80% of companies allow their employees to use their personal devices for work-related activities.
BYOD allows employees to work with devices they’ve chosen, are familiar with, and are personally attached to.
Increase Efficiency & Productivity
At Intel, of the 17,000 employees who use personal devices for work, the average increase in productivity was nearly an hour a day.
Additionally, 78% of employees reported that using a single mobile device helped them to balance their personal and professional lives.
The ability to perform work-related tasks from anywhere in the world that has safe and secure internet access makes the lives of business owners and employees much more efficient and productive
Things to Consider When Setting Up A BYOD Policy
While there are many advantages to adopting a BYOD policy, there are a few considerations that businesses must take into account:
Limits of Use
Are there websites that should be blocked? Are there functions on the device that should be disabled (i.e. webcam)? Ensuring that limits of use are put in place can help to avoid employees mixing personal and business life on their devices.
Another important limit to consider is work-life balance. The ability to work remotely can blur the lines between work and leisure. Maintaining your business with healthy employees will require work-life to be addressed.
Security
Far and away the biggest concern for companies considering allowing BYOD is security.
Guidelines, password protection, encryption, and secured internet are some of the ways to alleviate security concerns. Businesses should also have procedures in place to handle security breaches, should they occur.
Reimbursement
Employees will want to know if they are being compensated for using their devices at work. There should be a clear expense policy put in place to avoid confusion.
Support
Ensure that your IT professionals are up to the task of supporting different devices. Also, ensure that your employees are familiar with who their point of contact is for IT issues and how to access them for support.
While there are many upsides to implementing a BYOD policy at your business, there is some pre-planning that is necessary to ensure everyone — including the business itself — is ready to handle the learning curve that will come with the implementation.
If you have questions about BYOD or would like to speak to a business communications specialist about adopting a BYOD policy at your workplace, don’t hesitate to contact the professionals at City-Com.
