In the past, many firms provided the necessary hardware needed by their employees. A lot of us owned a personal phone for work, which was kept in a separate location, or a laptop that was issued by the IT department when we needed to be away from the offices. Technology has evolved in recent times, with many of us now having personal devices that are used for working as well as at home.
How do you define BYOD?
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy allows employees to work from their personal devices like tablets or smartphones to access different work-related data as well as valuable tools like cloud-hosted email, collaboration, and other software. Recent surveys suggest that more people have adopted this policy than prior to (over 40%, according to an industry research company Gartner), and it’s thought to be a cost-effective way to allow many SMEs to function.
The issue is that companies are unaware of the security risks associated with this and might not realize that their employees use their personal devices to perform work for the company.
Who is using BYOD?
Small-scale SMEs are discovering it more critical to implement a “bring the device you own’ rule as it reduces the cost of running the company as well as enhancing the capacity of new employees to work from anywhere and out of the office. In reality, 60 percent of small companies currently implement BYOD policies across the UK. The challenge that many SMEs confront is controlling sensitive data that could end on a laptop or tablet. This could cause breaches or data loss when the appropriate security measures aren’t implemented.
What are the reasons you need a BYOD Policy?
It’s not just a matter of ensuring that your data is secure on the smartphone of your employee or tablet. What happens if your device is stolen or lost? What can you do to remotely erase all the sensitive information? What happens if employees decide to transfer to another company? Making strong policies for managing mobile devices that safeguard the rights of your SME may be among the most crucial security concerns you can discuss with your IT advisor when you are deciding to implement BYOD policies for your company.
How do you create a BYOD Policy?
There are many essential elements that comprise an effective and precise BYOD policy, which includes:
Indicate which devices are permitted in your BYOD policy and which devices can be supported by the software.
All BYOD devices should be secured, which means they must have secure passwords as well as screen locks in the event that they are to be employed.
Define your boundaries. It is essential that employees are aware of the amount of support to be provided to their devices, which includes help desks as well as support for the apps they have that are installed on their smartphones or tablet.
Employees should be informed about who is the owner of the company’s data and apps, and you also can wipe the device or phone when it’s lost or taken (this is crucial because it will erase the personal information of employees like images and documents).
It is up to you to determine which apps are compatible to be loaded onto your device and which that may cause security problems but are not.
If employees’ devices connect to your VPN and you want to allow them to connect, then you need to decide on which personal use is permitted or not within your network.
Since employees own their own devices, you must have a plan for the time they quit the company. This means that your network and data processes have to be taken off.
It’s best to seek advice from your IT team when establishing an initial BYOD plan for the employees of your company.