PowerPoint Presentation -bring my own device to work.(BYOD)

According to French, Guo and Shim, (2014) BYOD is thought to improve employee productivity and satisfaction as they are more likely to be comfortable when using their own devices. It has been noted that employees are always seeking flexible work options and the ability to work in remote areas. If they are allowed to use the same device that they use at home in the office then, it allows for an easy transition and therefore enhanced output and efficiency. It is noted that surveys taken in relevance to employees who use their own devices will feel more ownership over their work. The policy can be an incentive that brings about talent in the recruitment efforts. Companies that embrace BOYD are embraced more positively as they are thought to have a more innovative, agile and modern culture. Concerning operating costs, companies are more likely to adopt the policy as it drives the cost away from them. For example, the programs shift the costs to the users as workers pay for most of their voice and data services. A proper consideration is companies that have a lot of employees who cater for their individual data and voice call needs thus saving the company a lot of money that can be allocated elsewhere. Technology is also always changing and requires an upgrade from time to time. In a workplace where the employer has to take care of the upgrade, it would be costly for the enterprise. BOYD devices usually consist of cutting age devices unlike IT issued ones, therefore, allowing companies to reap benefits of modern technology.

Companies that embraced the use of BOYD policy increase the engagement of workers both in the workplace and after hours. If the employees are likely to work outside the office, their responsiveness will be improved when they have the means to communicate outside the office. It means that they are more available to respond to emails, answer calls and even carry out daily tasks when outside the office. Despite these benefits, there are various matters that must be taken into consideration such as security of company information. In the mobile and communication world, security threats are imminent which means that BOYD can be disastrous (Lennon, 2012).

Risks associated with BOYD

According to Raths, (2012) there are significant risks associated with the policy and it is up to the IT departments to ensure that information does not end up with the wrong people. Therefore, security measures are called for when dealing with the remote devices. Surveys carried out extensive national show that many senior IT security and technology decision makers report serious security breaches and violations in relevance to personal mobile device use. Security threats are related to the end node problem where devices used by employees are also used for internet access. There might also be data breaches if an employee loses their phone and other un-trusted parties retrieve information and any unsecured data on the phone. There are also instances where an employee leaves a company and since the device is personally owned they leave with the data and company applications. There are also employees who sell their devices without taking time to wipe company data.

Privacy fears

Employees have privacy concerns that are entirely justified. Some of the BOYD policies provide employees with software that track their every move. Workers who agree to the BOYD program might find themselves accepting software installations done by the IT department. The programs might be used to monitor their device usage, collection of personal information. The IT department might be able to remove personal data from users’ devices. Most employees have raised concerns about access to contacts, facebook account data, installed applications and browser histories. Even when companies take time to separate personal and business data, there might be discovery requests especially when it comes to litigations.

Cost to the employees and device disparities.

As noted earlier on the costs of the BOYD are transferred to the employee. However, not everyone has a device that can be used in the program. It is therefore quite demanding when one is told that they should get a device such as an iPhone or a laptop. There are also risks such as damage to the device that can’t be attributed to the employer. In this case, the employees are not quite happy to shoulder the costs. It is also evident that when employees are allowed to select their own devices they might bring different devices with distinct capabilities. It 's hard for programmers to cover various platforms that are brought to work but more often they still manage to do so.

It is, therefore, evident that various considerations have to be taken to ensure that the process is successful. If employees are more technologically driven and have high-quality devices hen, it might be good to adopt BOYD. Employees should also know the stand of the company especially when it comes to access to personal information. Legal matters are inevitable, and these matters are of concern to employees. Informing them in advance might serve well to increase their productivity and ensure protection of data (Ghosh et al., 2013).

Conclusion

BOYD policies have been very useful and practical when it comes to the benefits that are accrued. However, the threats to security and cost are a threat to the advancement of the program in the United States. Most companies that appreciated the method earlier on are now considering alternatives due to security breaches that have been experienced in the past. Employees are nowadays aware of security threats, and if more companies choose to take up the policy, it will be easier to protect data and information. Policy issues when implementing the program are imperative, and companies have to ensure that the right measures are taken to account.

References

Ghosh, A., Gajar, P. K., & Rai, S. (2013). Bring your own device (BYOD): Security risks and mitigating strategies. Journal of Global Research in Computer Science, 4(4), 62-70.

Raths, D. (2012). Are You Ready for BYOD: Advice from the Trenches on How to Prepare Your Wireless Network for the Bring-Your-Own-Device Movement. THE Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), 39(4), 28.

Lennon, R. G. (2012). Bring your own device (BYOD) with cloud 4 education. In Proceedings of the 3rd annual conference on Systems, programming, and applications: software for humanity (pp. 171-180). ACM.

French, A. M., Guo, C., & Shim, J. P. (2014). Current status, issues, and future of bring your own device (BYOD). Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 35(10), 191-197.