The British Broadcasting Company (BBC) in a recent interview said it would not allow employees to bring their own devices onto work networks as it “does not like to be at the bleeding edge [of technology].”
Other companies may share that same sort of luddite sentiment to varying degrees, although they likely would be a little less blunt in their mea culpas regarding bring your own device (BYOD) policy. But if companies are truly shying away from BYOD for fear of adopting an unproven technology, they may face image damage -- an unfortunate side effect of making a rational choice for irrational reasons.
From a critic’s perspective, BYOD is a form of creeping contagion that seems to have infected the global workforce. The critic will assert the downsides of BYOD are many. IT overhead often increases. Licensing expenses may rise. Privacy is cut. Liability grows. Productivity is lost as employees engage in recreational computing.
These days, though, a trip around the Internet would leave you believing that BYOD optimists have almost driven out the critics. BYOD buzz seems the enterprise world equivalent of Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” overplayed and popping up in everything from analyst conversations to consumer news. BYOD optimists argue that organizations can mitigate most downsides with proper management.
I will say there’s a fair amount of truth to the optimist’s counter-argument. But I feel that, at the end of the day, when you let employees conduct sensitive business on unmanaged devices, you risk your company’s security, financial future, and reputation; conversely, if you manage personal devices you can never fully mitigate the risk of your IT employees abusing their power and accessing personal information. Of course, the former scenario could occur if an employee conducted business on his personal device without permission, while the latter could happen if employees bring their personal lives onto work devices. But in those cases it’s the employees' fault; in cases where BYOD goes wrong, it’s often the employer who shoulders the blame.
I’m a proponent of keeping my digital work and digital personal lives separate, and I think anyone who really stops to mull over the importance of digital privacy would do the same. I would consider privacy one fundamental, valid reason for rejecting BYOD (and as an employee for not wanting BYOD).
Aside from those issues, another perfectly legitimate reason to opt out of BYOD is if it presents a conflict of interest. This is true for most OEMs. Say your firm makes laptops. Well, you certainly don’t want employees bringing rivals' laptops onto your campus. It would hurt your image, damage employee morale, and fundamentally send the wrong message.
A similar principle can apply, only to a lesser extent, to exclusive contractors or clients of a particular OEM. Sure, an iOS development house could allow employees to carry in Androids, but is that conducive to the culture if you really want your business to be iOS exclusive?
Interestingly, there are more BYOD holdouts than you might think. An IDC Canada poll found that nearly one-third (31 percent) of businesses don’t allow BYOD at all. A Kapersky Labs-sponsored B2B poll saw half of the respondents rejecting the trend. Clearly not everyone has signed on to the BYOD train, even if the hype does make some weary holdouts feel like it’s inevitable -- and say as much in surveys.
Given the downsides, I expect some companies to eventually turn their backs on BYOD, but interestingly I could not find an example of a company that admitted to doing so (although I did find a guide to how it might be done). One key obstacle to ditching BYOD is the current hype. With many oblivious to the downsides, bucking BYOD would likely breed employee resentment. But as the hype subsides, employees will likely grow less fixated on BYOD. At that point some companies may make this uncharted transition back to company-owned devices.
As for companies that never go there in the first place, it’s important to establish a clear logical justification for your beliefs. I’ve listed some of the potentially valid reasons not to just give in to the hype. Come up with a clear explanation of why your company policy is to not allow BYOD and make sure your public relations team and managers can reiterate that same explanation.
— Jason Mick is senior news editor at the independent tech news site DailyTech.
This is such a relevant post, especially with so many firms facing the decision to go for BYOD or not. Unfortunately, there is no straightforward way to reach a conclusion. Like most systems or policies, BYOD comes with its pros and cons. Benefits include increased productivity and better work output, while disadvantages include possible security risks and breaches.
When firms explore BYOD and decide to allow it or not, they really should consider facts instead of going with their pre-concieved notions or assumptions. Good post, Jason!
Good question, Jason. I think the business has to determine its level of risk, and decide whether to require remote wipe on employees' mobile devices in cases of loss or theft. It doesn't stop the insider threat of an employee copying or downloading files for malicious purposes, but that's not a BYOD issue.
Harrassment doesn't have a single point of protection, Jason. So no, I'm not saying that it'll stop harrassment.
I'm saying that it will be part of the prevention regime. That "wifey" video, 2Live Crew, Eminem, anything NSFW under a "company hardware" system won't cease being NSFW under a BYOD system.
And employers will demand (rightly so, IMO) some amount of ability to enforce that.
Good example with the Samsung commercial, exactly what I'm saying.
But I'm a bit confused by your closing point. Are you arguing that MDM on BYOD hardware prevents workplace harassment?
As I see it, it could LEAD to workplace harassment in some case (e.g. for example if the guy in the commercial's IT guy scooped up that video and shared it with his fellow IT cohort and then somehow word got out to the guy whos video was illicitly viewed.
A question for both of you, as you're on the pro-BYOD (or at least feeling it is an inevitability) side of the fence -- do you think employee BYOD hardware should be managed via traditional MDM?
Or do employees earn the privilege of not being managed by saving you the cost and bringing their own device?
BYOD in *some* form is an inevitability. So the BBC is being unrealistic in thinking they can just refuse it and still hire/retain the kinds of employees an organization needs to survive in this business world.
At the same time, employees who think BYOD won't incur some kind of cost in freedom or privacy are being equally unrealistic.
I need to be blunt here, but I hope I don't offend. My tastes in entertainment include a... let's call it "more adult-oriented" nature. I'm not afraid to call it kinky and leave it at that.
I'm also aware that the latest Samsung Galaxy-series phone has an advertisement being broadcast in the USA of a man leaving on a trip (business, presumably) and his little girls share a video that they say he can watch on the plane. Then the wife shares a video with him, and she advises, "You probably don't want to watch that on the plane."
Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
But, wait. If that's a BYOD device, what happens when that content winds up in the workplace? Not "if." "When."
So the device is mine, or belongs to the gent in the above commercial. The data, too, is personal. But it's on a device that going into the workplace.
You really think an employer is going to permit that to go unmanaged? Are they going to wait until they make this list to engage some form of device *and* data management? I doubt it.
I believe you need some management of the employee's devices. Otherwise you are taking a big risk. What if the employee downloads something onto their device and the loses it, or has it stolen. Say this had customer names or other data that could compromise the company. Even though it is their device you can't leave it up to the user to adhere to proper security procedure. You need to really think about MDM if you are going to implement BYOD
I think your points on cost savings (via reducing hardware purchases) is dead on -- that's a compelling advantage of BYOD.
Also, as you say the more you deny something the more employees want it.
A question for both of you, as you're on the pro-BYOD (or at least feeling it is an inevitability) side of the fence -- do you think employee BYOD hardware should be managed via traditional MDM?
Or do employees earn the privilege of not being managed by saving you the cost and bringing their own device?
I guess, if I were to back BYOD at a workplace, it would have to be a scheme that did not involve MDM of personal devices. Of course, that could backfire, but at least employee privacy would be preserved.
Right, and unless you have a locked-down intranet, employees are going to be able to use their personal devices. We have authentication protocols for our network here, of course, but it does sit on the Internet, so I can access it from anything which connects to the Web. It doesn't even have to be "my" device!
Most organizations are going to have at least some kind of open face to the Web these days -- and that's an open invitation.
@Jason: I agree with Kim. Much like social media (or perhaps in part because of social media?) BYOD is something a company needs to manage in an intelligent way.
Basic element of human nature: the more you tell people they can't do something, the more likely someone's going to do it anyway out of spite... and the spite is when trouble happens. People will do business over their devices because they think they know better, or because they saw someone who was savvy enough do it successfully.
I think rather than simply embrace or deny BYOD, organizations should approach it like social media: draft a policy and make sure everyone knows the what, why, and potential consequences.
By demonstrating that the organization is aware of the potential benefits AND dangers of BYOD, it takes some of the heavy-handed 'dinosaur' feel away from management, and makes sure employees understand the risks they face with their own devices in or out of work -- which is good for everyone.
Haha, good point. Although some companies do that (Looks at NSA down the street). That place will literally shake your phone right out of you and with good reasons of course.
It really is, like you said, a fact of life and it's something that companies should embrace with knowledge rather than ignorance.
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