The Advantages and Disadvantages of B.Y.O.D. for the Organisation

THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF B.Y.O.D. FOR THE ORGANISATION

"Bring Your Own Device" is a new concept that has started to become a growing trend in industry. More organisations are moving away from the standardisation of devices in the workplace and moving in the path of this new and innovative approach in the organisation. Before moving forward and changing the manner in which the organisation is run, both sides of the argument need to be carefully considered and weighed by the I.T. management of the organisation.

What are the advantages of implementing B.Y.O.D. in the organisation?

There is a great deal to consider concerning the implementation of B.Y.O.D. in the organisation, a lot which can steer the organisation in a very strong positive direction. Therefore, the following advantages need to be taken into careful consideration:

The decrease in costs for the organisation

Due to the fact that employees are able to bring and use the devices of their choice to the workplace (and anywhere else where appropriate), the organisation is able to shift costs associated with these devices to the employees. Therefore, all costs pertaining to usage and maintenance of the devices are shifted to the employees and organisations can save up to R600 per month per employee. According to the Good Technology State of BYOD Report, from the organisations that have implemented B.Y.O.D. in their organisation and of them, the 50 percent who implement the regulation of employees covering the costs pertaining to their devices, the employees had no problem with this regulation. Because the employees are afforded the opportunity to use the devices of their choice, employees are more than happy to foot the bill. [1]

However, if the organisation does decide to fund the devices of the employees, they will regulated this amount by giving the employees a set or stipend amount to pay for their devices. Any amount that goes over and above the amount allocated for bringing the device by the organisation would therefore, need to be covered by the employee. According to a survey conducted by Good Technology, 45 percent of the organisation that they interviewed provided their employees with stipend amounts to pay for the devices they wanted to use. [8]

With the use of devices in the workplace, careful consideration needs to be taken with regards to the training of employees. This is often to ensure that the employees make full use of all the recourses made available to them by the organisation for optimal outcome. Therefore, with employees 'bringing their own devices to work' and making use of them, cost can be cut on training the employees. This would be due to the fact that the employees would have already become familiar with the use and functioning of the devices as they are the property of the employees and their "training" takes place in their own time (also saving the resource of time in the organisation).

Employee satisfaction

According to a survey conducted by CIO Magazine from a group of I.T. managers from various organisations, 80 percent of them reported that there was an evidential increase of productivity of the employees because of their satisfaction due the implementation of B.Y.O.D.. [8] Instead of using the standard devices provided by the organisation, the employees of the organisation are able to use the devices of their choice. They are given the freedom by the organisation to choose the manner in which they can carry out the tasks given to them by management and this freedom is expressed in B.Y.O.D.. Because of the 'freedom of expression' allowed to them, they are willing to fund these devices and are happier to carry out tasks in the organisations. The satisfaction of the employees is linked to employee productivity, this would be favourable to the organisation as it may result in an increase in the organisation's turnover in both the short and long term. [1]

Device mobility

Because the devices belong to the employees and therefore, the employees are always in possession of these devices, you may find that the employee is using the device overtime- many a time for work purposes. This is also because of their comfort with their device, the organisation will then be finding the employees unconsciously working overtime for the organisation without the formal pay or regulations pertaining to overtime. This once again, is the satisfaction of the employee, which links with an increase in productivity and eventually, the increase in the organisations turnover.

The C.E.O. of Box stated, "CIOs are no longer playing the role of IT enforcer. Rather, through solutions like Box and Enterproid, they're empowering their workers to be more productive from anywhere, on any device, while still retaining security and visibility around content and collaboration." [8]

Implementation of new technologies and innovation

Because of the devices being of employee selection, the devices are often of the latest technology. The employees will try and acquire the latest hardware and software to ensure they are able to use the device as efficiently as possible and the make use of all the upgrades available. Therefore, the organisation is given access to the latest trends and innovation with regards to the manner in which the employees do their work. [1] This ensure that the organisation, thanks to its employees remains competitively advance with regards to the technological environment.

What are the disadvantages of implementing B.Y.O.D. in the organisation?

Even though there seems to be a large amount of reasons proposing the implementation of B.Y.O.D. in the organisation, all factors need to be taken into consideration by I.T. management before a decision should be reached. Therefore, it is essential to explore thoroughly the factors that will lead to the proposition of B.Y.O.D. in the organisation. The following disadvantages need to be taken into careful consideration:

Problems pertaining to control

i. The lack of standardisation: Different platforms and compatibility

With the implementation of B.Y.O.D., there is a decrease in the standardisation of technology in the organisation. For the optimal use of these devices, employees opt to make use of the various applications that the device utilizes in an attempt to be most productive in the organisation. The problem occurs where there are stringent procedures in place to monitor all the applications being used in the employees' devices.

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