BYOD is Good: Just Take Care of the Security and Other Issues

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is almost a global trend now; it has become a norm in the workplace. There is no denying the fact that it is good and has its own advantages, but there are some security concerns and other issues that have to be taken care of in the right manner. Let’s take a look at these BYOD-related issues and also on how to resolve them.

Security Concerns

BYOD would obviously have security issues associated with it. If proper security measures are not taken confidential and sensitive information relating to the organization or its clients plus trade secrets can leak through the devices that the employees might be using. If this falls into wrong hands, it could affect the company’s business and even ruin the company.

Anyhow, this can be resolved easily, by having proper mobile device management (MDM) software installed and by proper monitoring of the devices used by the employees. If a mobile device is stolen or goes missing, the data stored on it can be remotely wiped off.

Productivity-related issues

BYOD is considered to enhance productivity, but sometimes it becomes difficult to monitor the activities of an employee who may be texting or chatting with friends or doing something else during work hours, which could cause productivity issues. This can be done by assessing whether BYOD is really needed for a particular employee and whether it would affect productivity positively or in a negative manner and then controlling, restricting or monitoring the same.

Legal exposure-related issues

On the one hand, if there are time-tracking and management related issues that could end up causing unnecessary legal exposure for the employers. At the same time, on the other hand, there are some other legal issues involved, like claims alleging harassment, discrimination etc relating to BYOD policies and also as regards monitoring, wiping out data etc. The only solution to this, of course, is having a well-defined and mutually agreed BYOD policy in place.

BYOD Policy- What all is important?

As already mentioned, having a BYOD policy is important. But, what all is important as regards the Bring Your Own Device policy a company might bring into effect? Here’s a peek-

• The clauses and terms of the policy should be clear and definite. The parameters for appropriate use of devices should be clearly defined.
• It should be made clear that the use of personal devices should be minimal when the employees are at their workplace, where they can use the organization’s desktops and work phones.
• The tracking and monitoring procedures should be defined clearly and should be made clear to the employees as well.
• The policies and clauses regarding overtime should also be explained and clarified in advance, to avoid getting caught in issues.
• Employees should also be told and reminded about the safe use of personal devices if BYOD is part of the company’s work culture.
• It should be made clear as to what steps would be taken as regards the official/organizational data on personal devices if an employee leaves a company or is dismissed. The company would obviously want to wipe out all data on the personal devices, but that should be discussed in detail and should be made clear. Otherwise, it could create lots of issues.

BYOD no doubt is good, in many ways. The key to its effective usage and management is having definite policies in place and opting for all kinds of security measures, including MDM and having anti-virus protection in place.

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