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Nail Down Any Reimbursement Plans

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It’s becoming increasingly common for businesses to have employees use personal devices for company work. Data from Syntonic shows that 87 percent of businesses are already having employees use personal devices for corporate applications. But there are some important things to consider here. These are five tips for running a successful bring-your-own-device program.

Determine What Devices to Use

There’s a long list of things that need to be considered when it comes to choosing what devices to use for a bring-your-own-device program. There are two main ways to go about this: Give all qualifying employees devices that they can take home; or allow employees to bring in their personal devices to work. There are some pretty distinct pros and cons to each scenario.

Business owners probably balk at the idea of handing out laptops and smartphones to all of their employees. Devices aren’t cheap, especially if they’re equipped with high-end hardware. But there’s a flipside to every coin. When employees just bring in their own pre-existing personal devices, it’s hard to know what’s being brought onto your network.

Employers need to determine which devices make sense to allow into the BYOD program — along with operating systems, and whether they should be utilized by the business or the employee’s preexisting device.  

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Nail Down Any Reimbursement Plans

People who benefit from a BYOD program tend to be those whose work isn’t restricted to the confines of an office. It’s often people who spend a significant amount of their time travelling or working outside of the office for a variety of reasons.

Due to this, they might find themselves in a situation where they need to use their personal data or other means in order to do company business. This is obviously not something that’s fair to the employee. Make sure there are protocols in place for how to reimburse anyone who needs repayment from any aspects related to the BYOD program.

Ensure Network Security

Network security is undoubtedly one of the most critical aspects to building and executing a BYOD workplace. There’s far more that needs to be considered on the security side when people are bringing devices to and from the workplace, remotely connecting to enterprise applications, and potentially using infected tech.

It’s essential for enterprises to employ endpoint protection to ensure the security of devices. This kind of monitoring can set off red flags even if a device isn’t on a company network. The perimeters of the modern workplace are expanding. Therefore, it’s necessary to adapt network security to this type of change. Opting for endpoint protection services can help deliver real-time responses to issues as they arise.  

Be Transparent with Employees

It’s important the terms and conditions of your BYOD program are clear to all your employees who are part of it. Make sure everyone understands and agrees to what you’re telling them before moving forward.

For instance, it’s a very real concern that employees could be using compromised apps or programs on their devices without their knowledge. Employees need to understand why this is a danger to the organization. Education and careful approval into the BYOD program can limit the risks of this.  

You also need to make it clear who fixes things if there’s an issue with a device. If someone’s device breaks down while doing company work, it’s not fair to expect the employee to pay for the repairs. Make it clear upfront who foots the bill in various instances.

Have an Off-Boarding Protocol

Not everyone in your organization is going to stay there forever. When they do decide it’s time to move on, you need to wipe your company’s critical applications from their devices.

Failing to do this could allow former employees to access sensitive data and other information after leaving the company. It’s also a vulnerability in case that former employee’s device is compromised at any point. Determine a BYOD protocol that allows for you to clean out all company apps without eliminating personal data.

Many companies find running a BYOD program makes sense for their businesses today. Make sure you understand some of the challenges before leaping ahead and implementing this kind of system.