Risks and rewards of using personal devices
Safeguarding your IT network is already challenging. Add to this the trend for employees to use their own tablets and smartphones at work, and keeping your corporate network safe becomes a serious headache.
However, as long as you follow careful steps, staff using their own devices at work could help increase efficiency and be something businesses should embrace, rather than fear.
An industry analysis on the risks around Bring Your Own Devices (BYOD) by YouGov, showed employees often lack a sense of responsibility for protecting locally-stored corporate data. Companies also worry that employees could be accessing sensitive corporate data while on unsecured networks, or find their personal passwords compromised.
Yet introducing strict anti-BYOD polices is not the answer, as many employees want the flexibility and familiarity of using their own devices. In addition, the cost savings and flexibility benefits of a BYOD strategy could really pay off.
Be clear with employees
Adopt a common sense policy around how personal devices can and can’t be used. Only certain data should be passed around and there should be expectations on how to treat data that is downloaded to a personal device.
As long as you are well prepared, companies should view employees using their own devices at work as an opportunity to leverage potential gains in efficiency.
"Enabling a flexible and collaborative workforce through a clear BYOD strategy presents a clear opportunity to enhance efficiency. Employers need to adopt common sense policies around how personal devices can and can’t be used to view and share company data" - Adam Warwick, Director Business Change and IT at Zurich
Source: http://insider.zurich.co.uk/