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You can't avoid bringing your own device
July 18, 2012
No matter what industry your business is in, you have probably noticed your colleagues using a dizzying array of mobile devices, including smart phones, tablet computers and more. In fact, you probably use one of those devices yourself.
Increasingly, staff are refusing to wait for employers to sanction, purchase and distribute mobile technology. Instead, many are using their personal devices for work. This trend has been dubbed ‘the consumerisation of IT’ or ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD).
With more than 302 million smartphones shipped worldwide in 2010 and a healthy 19% annual growth rate predicted until 2016, BYOD should continue to grow, fuelled by the continuing introduction of new tablets, smart phones and mobile apps.
But should your business encourage this blurring of the lines between business and personal use?
The benefits of BYOD
Embracing BYOD can certainly bring benefits. Encouraging employees to use their own smart phones may enable them to access communications and information on demand.
Mobilised employees often respond to email after hours, in effect extending their workday. And if you can make company data – like files or documents - available through mobile apps then you’ll save people considerable time and effort.
“The on-demand aspect of mobility means that as you need access to information within your company, it’s right there via your smartphone or tablet,” says Tiffany Benson, SMB mobility marketing senior consultant at Dell. “The mobile device is a central point for all your information and activities.”
The benefits of employees bringing their own mobile technology into the workplace may be too great to ignore, regardless of the IT challenges it creates. After all, staff are probably already using their own devices in your business, no matter if you want them to or not.
If so, you have two choices: you can just let it happen, or you can be proactive, decide what you want to achieve through BYOD, and then plan to achieve it.
Getting started with BYOD
Some companies are encouraging employees to use their own devices by paying a stipend for any device they buy to use at work. For instance, you might pay £100 to an employee if they bought a new iPhone with the intention of using it for work as well as for personal use.
If you take this approach, it’s tempting to create a list of approved devices – certainly, that makes it easier to manage IT support in your business. But you need to be careful. One of the main aims of BYOD is to give employees choice over what technology they use. It’s a tricky balance to strike.
“Different devices have different levels of security and connectivity,” explains Benson. “So the challenge for IT administrators is managing the security requirements across those different devices based on their capabilities. You can see how that would get really complicated really quickly.”
There’s also the issue of devices being used for business and personal use. How can you keep your company data and apps safe without violating users’ privacy?
One option is to narrow the your choice of devices based on operating system. For instance you could require employees to choose a smart phone based on Google’s Android system, or Microsoft’s Windows Phone. This makes it easier to provide IT support without limiting choice too much.
BYOD is still in its early days. Yet as technology becomes ever more embedded in our everyday lives, it seems more and more ridiculous for employees to have two mobile phones (one for work, one for personal use), two tablet computers, or two laptops.
So, how do you feel about your employees bringing their own gadgets to work?
Andrew Miller is technology marketing consultant for Dell UK and Ireland.
How your business is evolving
January 18, 2012
Work attitudes and practices are evolving rapidly, fuelled by advances in technology and widespread broadband connectivity.
Indeed, perhaps it’s the availability of fast internet connections which is enabling information, ideas and knowledge to flow freely.
Our world of work is being redefined. With it, the expectations of workers and managers in businesses of all sizes are being challenged.
The evolving workforce
To understand how working habits are changing and the impact this will have on companies across the globe, Dell and Intel commissioned a piece of research: The Evolving Workforce. We wanted to learn how the way businesses work is changing.
Part of the research involved polling the workforce itself – approximately 8,000 workers in 11 countries, 1,000 of whom were based in the UK. The results contain some interesting findings for smaller businesses:
- Smaller businesses offer better job stability. Worldwide, employees of small and medium-sized businesses feel their jobs are safe from external threats. They feel stable in their roles; only 25% feel that outsourcing is a threat.
- Smaller companies offer greater job satisfaction. Generally, employees of small and medium-sized businesses are happier at work than people in larger companies. Some employees say this is because they’re able to choose the technology they use. In small and medium-sized businesses, 39% of employees can choose their IT, compared with just 21% at larger companies.
- Employees in smaller businesses are more trusted by their employers. Results from around the world show that 55% of employees from small and medium-sized businesses say they feel their employer listens to them, compared to only 36% at larger companies.
- People working for small and medium-sized businesses have more flexibility and choice in the devices they use. 42% of employees at small and medium-sized companies in Japan believe they’re consulted about technology choices, yet only 31% had positive views of their IT support.
The figure is similar in Mexico, with 40% being more likely to choose their own devices, compared with half that (20%) in large enterprises. This shows how smaller businesses are able to offer more flexibility – an attractive prospect to employees who like to choose the technology they use every day.
Small and medium-sized businesses are blazing a trail in terms of employee-led innovation, but results from our survey suggest the UK lags behind. More than half (53%) of employees say they don’t have the freedom to choose how to work.
By giving workers increased freedom, offering flexible working and a choice of devices, small and medium-sized businesses will increase motivation and, in turn, boost productivity and creativity to stimulate further innovation and growth.
Kevin Peesker is General manager Dell UK and Ireland small and medium business
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