Implementing a BYOD Policy in a Work From Home Era

In the current scenario, the pandemic has forced us to live in our homes and work from our homes. Many organizations worldwide face this challenge, and they are adapting to this new way of working from home to ensure that the business stays running. And now this situation does not seem to get any better sooner. We may have to be accepting the position and keep working through our homes for a more extended period. 

This shift happened so fast that many organizations did not have the infrastructure to go remote this fast. Many organizations had to implement a Bring Your Own Cevices (BYOD) policy to use their electronic devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and laptops for professional work.

Benefits of Implementing a BYOD Policy

BYOD policy has been a boon in work from the era. Many organizations are implementing the BYOD policy to ensure that the productivity of their employees does not get affected. There are many benefits of BYOD like higher productivity, easy transition to work from home, and lower employee deterioration rate. Here are some of the other benefits of implementing BYOD: 

• Productivity increase:

An employee working in a freer environment gives better performance than in a more restrictive setting. With the BYOD policy, employees get the freedom to work from their homes. Employees can work according to their convenience of time. Many ideas come outside the office, but you can not do anything about it.

BYOD allows using those ideas anytime an increase in the productivity of the company. Young people are also choosing to work from home because it gives them the freedom to do the work at any hour. 

• BYOD gives flexibility to the companies: 

Every employee wants a more flexible work environment to work with. Implementing the BYOD gives the flexibility and mobility you need. Companies can save a lot of money and time by providing a more flexible work environment for their employees. 

BYOD decreases the dependency of the employees on the company and gives them the freedom to work. In the current scenario, flexibility is the key to a successful business. 

• Companies can win the trust of their employees: 

Giving them the freedom to work on their electronic devices shows the employees that the company has trust in them. This will help companies to establish a more personal relationship with their employees. Employees will feel more at ease while working.

Employees will go out of their way to increase productivity for the company. They will come up with more innovative ideas, which means more profits for the company. 

• Employees can learn more freely: 

When employees work on the company's devices, then there are certain restrictions on browsing the Internet. This keeps the employees away from new problem-solving techniques. But when employees work on their devices, they have the freedom to browse anything they want on the Internet. So employees can learn new skills and problem-solving techniques, which will increase productivity. 

• BYOD is cost-saving for the company:

BYOD will save a lot of the company's money. When the employees work on their electronic devices, then they have to take the responsibility of maintaining the electronic devices. Employees have to spend their money on the maintenance of electronic devices. This will save a lot of the company's money. 

Challenges of implementing BYOD 

With all the benefits of implementing BYOD, there are various challenges also to BYOD, but these challenges can be overcome by the right mobile device management (MDM) solution. Here are some of the challenges and the (MDM) solution for them: 

• Device disparity:

If any organization implements the BYOD policy, all employees will be using their devices to work, and every device works on a different OS. This creates a challenge for the IT department to manage these many other OSs at the same time. 

Many managed services providers take care of these IT problems, so you do not have to worry about anything. These MSPs provide you with specialized IT services, and you can focus on improving your business. 

• Data leakage:

With these many devices running in different locations and on various OSs creates a challenge of data leakage. These devices should be secured from the access of any unauthorized users. It is essential to ensure the data security of both employees and the corporate, providing user privacy. If the data gets leaked, then it will cause you a lot of harm. 

This challenge of data security can be dealt with by creating an encrypted container within the device of the employees. Every employee can store the corporate data in that container where it can be safe. 

• Devices get stolen:

The BYOD policy lets the employees use their devices to use for professional use. So there are higher risks of these devices getting stolen or lost. If these devices fall prey to cybercriminals, then the chances of recovering the data are significantly less. 

But with the help of remote security commands, you can track these devices and lock them or even erase the data. If any device gets lost, you can mark that particular device as 'lost' and excess their screens. 

• Untrusted activities can happen: 

When an employee works from home, that employee will connect to public networks that are very risky. So there are higher chances of information leakage, and that information can fall into the wrong hands. These types of activities can cost a fortune to companies. Companies can lose their whole data within seconds, and it would be the worst nightmare for any company. 

There are no other options for us than to accept the scenario we are in and deal with it. Work from home has given the security to people from this pandemic, but it has its challenges that need to be addressed. The BYOD policy can be beneficial for the time being if it is being implemented in the right way. With the help of the BYOD policy, business across the world can run smoothly while we work from home.