There’s little doubt that bring-your-own-device (BYOD) adoption has profoundly changed the enterprise.
By 2018, one-half of organisations will no longer provide devices to their employees, according to industry research. 9/10 employees already use their personal smartphones for work. Nearly 6/10 IT decision makers believe they would be at a competitive disadvantage if they didn’t embrace BYOD.
Consider the following 10 best practices for BYOD. They cover usage policies, self-servicing, network impact and ROI tracking.
1. Keep Usage Policies Updated
Make sure policies respond to tech changes while remaining device-agnostic. In addition, they need to address the level of usage/activity that IT can monitor in the interest of protecting corporate data.
2. Have Employees Sign BYOD Agreements
This way, there won’t be any question about what is allowed and what isn’t-including IT’s right to remote wipe all device data (including personal data) if a device is lost or stolen.
3. Simplify Onboarding
Through self-servicing, you’ll minimize IT’s involvement every time a user needs to connect a device to the network.
4. Conduct a Network Assessment
BYOD smartphones and tablets demand lots of bandwidth and network resources due to the downloading of high-quality video and rich applications. So assess your switch and router networks, Internet pipes and remote location connections to ensure they can handle the load.
5. Secure the end points
Adapt an embrace-but-contain strategy by reviewing WiFi security, VPN access and authentication technologies.
6. Stay Adaptable on Upgrades
Apple and Samsung won’t update you on their latest advancements. Expect users to introduce new code to the enterprise at all times, creating connectivity, app and security issues.
7. Incorporate 24/7 Support
Downtime is no longer an option. If you can’t staff for ‘round-the-clock IT availability, bring on a managed services partner who can.
To determine ROI, evaluate how much more BYOD is giving in improved productivity, customer engagement, hardware cost savings and staff retention than it’s taking in terms of IT’s time involvement and increased risk.
If BYOD is getting out of hand, you can always implement a policy to limit the amount of devices that users can connect to the network.
10. Emerge as a BYOD Advocate
*IT systems and IT solutions (including mobile devices and apps) built and used inside organizations without explicit organizational approval.
Conclusion
Mobile phones are a long-established key business tool. But with so many options available, managing your mobile accounts, devices, users, policies and reporting can be a challenge.
Talk to us about our bespoke managed BYOD mobile solution for clients that require something a little different. From audit & cost control to advanced reporting we can support your specific requirements. Find out more about our Managed Mobile service or Get in touch with us today.
