Workplace rules and expectations have made a huge shift in the last few years. As your team ventures back into the workplace, now is a good time to review if BYOD is the best way to do it.

As we explore BYOD policies, keep in mind that Bring Your Own Device refers to laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Any wifi or cellular enabled device used for work will fall into this discussion. 

Studies indicate that your team will see an increase in productivity when using their own devices on the job. There's something about having all the settings and preferences right at your fingertips, and even that friendly wallpaper of your cat, to speed up tedious tasks. 

Employees also share that their job satisfaction increases, and that means they stick around at their favorite job for longer. Unifying communications into one phone (instead of a work phone, cell phone, home phone) reduces stress and increases productivity! 

For Employers, enjoy a decrease in costs for providing hardware: computers, phones, etc. We recommend using apps like RingCentral, Teams or any other VOIP provider for employee work phone calls and communication. 

Be prepared for the disadvantages of BYOD:

• personal devices being lost or stolen, and losing company data or exposing company information in the process: use cloud-based platforms to retain and protect data
• insufficient anti-virus software
• decreased control
• potential increase in IT costs, should you provide support and repairs​: be clear on what repairs and solutions your company will provide, reduce complex software and switch to cloud-based platforms where possible