Are you one of the people that take your mobile phone to bed? If so, you’re in the vast majority. With our great reliance on our smartphones today, it’s no surprise that many businesses are turning into bring your own device workplaces. These five key advantages of BYOD also help explain the trend.
What is a BYOD workplace?
The BYOD and enterprise mobility market size is estimated to grow from USD 35.10 Billion in 2016 to USD 73.30 Billion by 2021, at a CAGR of 15.87%. Markets and Markets also reports, North America is expected to hold the largest market share in the BYOD market.
In a BYOD workplace, the business lets its employees bring in their own smartphones or laptops to use in the office. This approach supports mobile and cloud-centric IT strategy. With your business embracing cloud processing and storage, you are able to offer greater device independence while your employees can continue to be collaborative and increasingly mobile.
Why business is embracing BYOD
Why are businesses implementing BYOD policies? Here are some of the top reasons:
Cost savings.
Why does business do anything? Saving money is the number one answer on the Family Feud-style board. When employees bring their own devices to the workplace, it can reduce the need to provide devices and equipment. The BYOD workplace can eliminate the need for desk handsets their employees don’t want to use anyway. The business may have to pay a service reimbursement fee to employees, but this still represents cost savings on the communications budget line.
Happier employees.
How eager are you to update your device to a new one and have to learn the new fiddly little things about it? Some people love this. Others prefer to stick with what they know. Allowing employees to BYOD appeals to those who are satisfied with their current equipment and confident in their ability to do what they want and need to with the devices they have already.
Improve productivity.
Satisfied employees are more likely to work productively. Additionally, those who are using the devices they are already familiar with are not slowed down by needing to learn or adapt to new equipment.
Greater mobility.
The BYOD culture also makes it possible for your employees to “always be on.” After all, they are now able to access company information via the devices they travel with all of the time. Of course, you don’t want to burn them out with extreme outside of office hours, but you can expect increased engagement and responsiveness as your employees are better able to answer emails and complete other tasks outside of the office.
More than one-third of survey respondents saw a positive effect of BYOD on work-life balance in a Frost & Sullivan study.
Stay current.
You need to be aware of the risks that come with employees using older devices that may require security patches and other additional precautions. Yet, the flip side is that for every one of those employees holding loyally to an old school device, you are also going to have the people who are consistently upgrading to keep their technology up-to-date. When your employees get the latest and greatest, it’s a boon for your business too.
There are risks associated with BYOD. It’s important to educate employees about the potential problems and ensure your IT team is managing software and firewall security to support and secure these devices.
Partnering with a cloud-services expert can also help secure your BYOD workplace. Evolve IP offers virtual desktops, remote monitoring and management, mobile device management and unified communications services and support. Contact us today!
