3 Tips for a Successful Bring Your Own Device Initiative

Over the last ten years, personal technology devices such as smartphones, tablets, and notebooks have advanced to a point that people rely on these devices for every day tasks. Employees rely on these devices to answer emails, check their calendar, set reminders, or access enterprise resource applications. As a small or medium sized business, keeping up with the advancement of technology can prove to be an expensive burden; especially considering there are new releases for these devices every few months.

With consumerization, individuals, not organizations, are driving this advancement at an accelerated pace. Individuals want the best technology devices at their fingertips, and they’re willing to pay for these advances. With this technology at their fingertips, employees have the ability to access the best technology, making them more productive and connected.

Companies are reacting to this demand by providing the ability to bring your own device (BYOD). However, in order to get the most out of the potential benefits of BYOD, it is important to have a strong plan in place to protect company data and encourage user adoption. Here are 3 best practices to sustaining an effective BYOD initiative.

Implement a Bring Your Own Device Policy

There are many factors to consider when implementing a BYOD policy in an organization. An enterprise wants to encourage user-adoption without seeming like big-brother with a large set of rules. Makes sure employees understand the reasons for these policies. Be transparent about the risks and rewards of the policy. To manage a secure policy, and protect sensitive information consider the following:

What is considered acceptable use?

Define which devices and apps are permitted, and how these devices should be used while on an organization’s network.

What are the security measures you wish to implement?

Outline your expectations for security measures. Communicate your company’s password policy with strong standards such as requiring 8-letter passwords with a combination of upper and lower-case letters, numbers, symbols, etc. Communicate other expectations such as devices needing to be locked with a pin.

What is your reimbursement policy?

It is usually best to implement a reimbursement policy to help off-set the charge of using a personal device to conduct business. Decide what percentage of the cost the organization will absorb; as well as, policies for roaming, data overages, etc.

Find a Mobile Device Management Solution

MDM or Mobile Device Management will allow administrators to remotely manage mobile devices through an app that is installed on your user’s devices. A MDM solution streamlines platforms and devices to make life simple for IT and employees. With a MDM solution, organizations can secure mobile devices and manage the devices from a central location, ensuring higher productivity and lower security risk.

Provide Immediate Access to IT

Trying to streamline devices throughout an organization takes IT to a new level. As people rely on their devices more and more to complete their day-to-day tasks, it is important to remedy any issues quickly and effectively. Your IT department must be ready to handle the influx of issues on different devices, and your employees must have an easy way of communicating these issues.

Empower your organization today with a strong BYOD policy that protects your data, while improving productivity and connection for your employees. If you’re interested in implementing a BYOD policy, and want to know more about how Revolution Group can help, call us at 614-212-1111.