Explore the risks and benefits of bring-your-own-device policies to determine if BYOD is right for your organization.
BYOD (bring your own device) is becoming a workplace norm in the field service industry. But there are many factors to consider before letting employees bring their own devices.
BYOD policies let employees use their own smartphones, tablets, and laptops instead of company provided devices. These devices typically store training videos, photos, inventory, mobile schedules, and more for easy data access.
Looking for more information to guide your decision? Read on for the benefits and risks of this much-hyped solution.
Benefits of BYOD
Take advantage of newer devices and cutting edge features
Individual users usually upgrade to the latest hardware, gaining access to faster, sleeker, and more capable devices. Newer devices with features like Siri and 4G LTE are great for field work tasks, and upgrade in speed, storage, photo, video, billing documentation and more. In fact, 36% of businesses said they use mobile apps to increase competitiveness.
Reduce costs
BYOD programs shift costs to the individual user, saving companies money on buying devices up front with monthly voice and data service fees. Even subsidizing employees cell and data plans costs much less than buying devices paid in full with a company-wide mobile initiative.
Utilize user knowledge
The Millennial generation is booming, making today’s workforce tech-savvy. With BYOD, technicians use devices they already understand, requiring less training. Field workers will know how to take full advantage of device features, which boosts worker productivity and maximizes business revenue.
Keep employees happy
Training and retaining strong field technicians is extremely important, but it can also be hard. When techs use the devices they already know and love, they will be happier working for your company and also more productive. Studies have shown employees enjoy using their personal devices over the bulk issued devices by IT departments, despite being responsible for their own costs and cell coverage.
Provide easy information access
Fast turnaround time means happy customers and more revenue. Field service technicians need information available at any time and place to do their job well. Old devices retrieve information slowly, leading to slower turnaround time. Implementing up to date, flexible content platforms gives employees on-demand data access, which increases productivity.
Risks of BYOD
BYOD policies require strategic planning to be successful. Below are just some common challenges companies must overcome to let employees bring their own devices.
Legal costs
The field workforce usually has fewer legal obligations than healthcare or finance, but consider consulting with a legal team when implementing BYOD for just some of the following reasons:
- Security breach notification laws apply to most states
- International data transferring laws
- Workers may not clock out when working off-site
- Legal and contractual obligations around retaining and deleting data
Security concerns
Security has been one of the largest concerns surrounding bring your own device policies. IT professionals have a harder time monitoring and addressing viruses, hacking, and other cybersecurity issues with personal devices.
However, some employees may not approve of their bosses having access to their personal information. Others may consider it inconvenient when they can’t download company information to personal devices.
Additionally, UC Today reported employees are more productive when trusted by their employers to use their own devices. Here are just some ways to address BYOD security concerns: Here are just some ways to address BYOD security concerns:
- Register employee devices with the company for monitoring purposes
- Implement password protection, antivirus and back-up software
- Prevent use in public WiFi networks
- Company information should not be downloaded to home computers
- Wipe devices clean when employees quit or are terminated
No uniform end-user support
It’s important to seek out support options for each of the major platforms. This way, you can refer your employees if and when problems come up.
On-premise software difficulties
If you purchase an application without a support contract, you may have to hire IT training to support software in house, in addition to other expensive costs. An easy solution is to purchase software as a service (SaaS) and let a provider maintain the service application, if problems occur.
Conclusion
It can be difficult to transition to BYOD if the service management app you use isn’t cross-platform. Even if you aren’t currently using BYOD, a cross-platform app provides the flexibility to switch, meaning it’s best to use a service app which runs on any device or major mobile platform.
Many service companies are creating BYOD policies and overcoming challenges. Remember, the transition is not always easy. It takes the right supporting technology, apps, and programs for successful BYOD at any company.
Whatever you decide, MSI’s Service Pro can help. Get started today.
