The BYOD acronym has been thrown around for so many years that it’s easy to write it off as a meaningless buzzword with little application or utility in your organization.
However, that would be a grave mistake. A few years back, Gartner predicted that 2017 would be the year when BYOD would become a requirement in the majority of companies.
Are you on track?
Benefits of Adopting BYOD Policies
As Gartner explains, a BYOD strategy is “an alternative strategy that allows employees, business partners, and other users to use a personally selected and purchased client device to execute enterprise applications and access data. It typically spans smartphones and tablets, but the strategy may also be used for PCs. It may or may not include a subsidy.”
Presently, midsize and large organizations – those with 2,500 to 5,000 employees – are the most common adopters of BYOD policies. However, we’re starting to see government entities and even small businesses get involved. This signals a pivotal shift towards widespread adoption.
But why are so many companies finally drafting their own BYOD policies? It all comes down to the following benefits:
1. Increased Productivity
Most businesses with no BYOD experience assume that it’s a recipe for diminished output, but this simply isn’t true. If anything, letting employees use their personal devices increases productivity.
“If you allow your employees to use their personal devices for work – then you’re giving them the flexibility to work on their own timeframe,” entrepreneur Dominic Banguis notes. “Also, by allowing employees to bring their own devices, they can easily organize and answer important business e-mails wherever they are. At the same time, they have the freedom to still be connected with their personal life via social media networks.”
2. More Cost-Effective
There’s no point in paying for technology that your employees aren’t going to use. This is something Dialpad, a provider of wireless business phone solutions, has discovered through conducting market research and gathering results from clients.
“At Motorola Solutions, for example, Dialpad found that 50% of employees were using their desk phones only ten times per month,” Ronny Kerr reports. “Most conversations were redirected to mobile phones so they could happen on-the-go.”
In Motorola’s case, they found that there really wasn’t a reason to buy and maintain desk phones when nobody was using them. This helped them save money and better allocate resources.
3. Satisfies Employee Preferences
Did you know that 45 percent of millennials expect to be able to use their personal smartphone for work purposes? That’s too large of a constituency to ignore. If you want to keep employees satisfied, then you need to account for the fact that they’re familiar with their personal devices and want to use them as much as possible. Throwing a second or third device their way isn’t going to change things.
4. Lower IT Expenses
When employees are using their own devices – the ones that they’re familiar with in their personal lives – there aren’t going to be as many IT issues. This frees up your IT team to focus on big-picture tasks, as opposed to small issues that employees have on a daily basis. This makes BYOD a mutually beneficial setup for everyone involved. Some companies are even able to downsize their IT departments as a result of shifting to BYOD.
When Potential Outweighs Risk
Are there risks associated with adopting a BYOD approach to technology in the workplace? Certainly. However, the benefits far outweigh the risks in the long run and you’ll be glad that you made the switch.
Consider this moving forward and make sure your organization is modernizing along with the rest of American businesses.
