Rising in popularity among American companies of all types are BYOD policies. And why not? The use of BYOD allows employees to improve their productivity and generate less paperwork. Further, BYOD solutions can lead to more accurate billing and record keeping, streamlined workflow, and added visibility. However, there are very real risks that BYOD brings to business.
What is BYOD and Why is It Used?
The definition of BYOD is “Bring in Your Own Device”. Besides the aforementioned benefits of these policies, using bring in your own device allows businesses to save themselves the cost of buying a new piece of mobile technology for their employees. Further, it is easier for employees to use technology they already know their way around than a new piece delivered by their company. Subsequently, 66% of employees prefer when their IT department lets them choose their own device.
The Dangers of Bring Your Own Device Policies
Clearly, there are very real benefits to bring in your own device policies. However, the problem is that 25% of companies allow BYOD but lack a BYOD mobile security policy to protect their company data. Consider, 33% of employees that use a personal mobile device for work say their company’s data is not protected through encryption or security management programs.
Now consider that the FBI shows that 280,000 cases of cybercrime were reported in 2012 alone. According to the Ponemon Institute, some businesses lost $46 million last year due to cyber crimes, like data theft, that were committed against them.
How Companies Can Protect Themselves
BYOD mobile security tools are available to secure all employee bring in your own device policy platforms, tablets or smartphones. Bring your own device management software allows IT professionals to utilize a scalable, convenient, and secure cloud-based system to provide every device with the security it needs to protect companies’ vital data. Mobile security is crucial to the success of all businesses, but it does not need to be difficult to implement. By outlining a BYOD strategy and using readily available, high quality management software for mobile device security, all companies stand to be prepared against any threat to their proprietary information.
As can be seen, there are undeniably huge benefits to the use of implementing BYOD in the workplace. However, this needs to be done responsibly in order to ensure the success of businesses of all types. Create a security policy for BYOD and use device management software. Doing so can mean the difference between the safety of the business and a breach that can cost millions.