The BYOD concept has been gaining steam in recent years as employees have become increasingly mobile. There are a few advantages to BYOD, including cost savings for your business and convenience for your employees. But there are also some drawbacks, which are typically related to security concerns. Here are some of the do’s and don’ts of BYOD for your business.
Do Specify Ownership of the Data & Apps
Which apps and what data do the company lay claim to and which belong solely to the worker?
Specifying ownership of the apps and data that are on the devices means that there is no uncertainty about what goes and what stays with the company when the device is retired or when the employee leaves. It also sets ground rules for what is acceptable use of company data and apps versus personal.
Don’t Neglect to Extend the Policy to Top Executives
Many companies fail to extend their BYOD policy to the top, but a CEO’s or CIO’s lost device is far more threatening to the business than that of a rank and file worker. Additionally, if a low-level employee decides to go rogue, the damage they can do is paled in comparison to what a top-level exec could do with their device’s access. Make sure the policy applies equally to everyone.
Do Determine How Overtime Compensation Issues Will Be Handled
One of the legal issues that has popped up in response to BYOD involves hourly workers who work after hours on their phones without due compensation. Your BYOD policy needs to address this issue so that you don’t wind up in court one day trying to explain how this happened.
Don’t Forget to Address NSFW Issues
It isn’t a matter of if IT will discover NSFW photos, videos, apps, etc. on workers’ phones; it is merely a matter of when and how bad. You need to outline the appropriate response to these issues. Should IT ignore it? Report it? If so, to whom? What if some of the activity appears illegal? Be sure your BYOD policy addresses all the potential scenarios.
Do Establish an Exit Policy
Ideally, each employee will finish their “Best Wishes” cake and head to IT to get the company data wiped off of their devices. In the real world, people just don’t show up for work one day, or perhaps storm out angry. IT needs not only a BYOD policy allowing them to wipe sensitive data off of the phone, but also the technical power to do it. Also, specify what data and apps are to be remote wiped. Even if the worker storms out angry, you probably don’t want to erase the only existing photos of their baby learning to walk.
Don’t Draft a Policy That Hasn’t Been Approved by All Stakeholders
Before you issue an organizational BYOD policy, you need to be sure of several things. Do the approved apps meet the criteria of production workers to get their jobs done? Is finance and accounting comfortable with your reimbursement policy? Is legal comfortable that your policy covers all of the potential liability issues? Is IT comfortable that everything the policy states is technically possible? Make sure to get input from all of the stakeholders so that the policy meets the needs of the entire organization.
Do Upgrade the Network to Accommodate All the New Devices
BYOD puts lots of demands on the internal network, as both workers and guests (contractors, clients, etc.) use the devices to check email, chat, and sometimes watch YouTube or update their Facebook status.
BYOD calls for beefing up the office network to accommodate the bandwidth demands of all the new devices, as well as to address the business network security issues BYOD brings. Plan to accommodate 2-3 times more devices, because you’ll be adding guest devices as well as mobile devices for all of your workers.
BYOD is working well for many businesses, and with the right policies in place, it can serve your business, too.
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