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BYOD (bring your own device)

By Kinza Yasar

What is BYOD?

BYOD (bring your own device) is a policy that enables employees in an organization to use their personally owned devices for work-related activities. Those activities include tasks such as accessing emails, connecting to the corporate network and accessing corporate apps and data. Smartphones are the most common mobile device an employee might take to work, but they also take their own tablets, laptops and USB drives into the workplace.

With more and more people working remotely and using personal devices, it's imperative for companies to execute and enforce BYOD policies. BYOD is not simply to eliminate the need for employees to carry two phones; a BYOD policy is designed to ensure that the employees use strong security practices when connecting to the company network.

While some organizations might endorse BYOD, others might see it as a facet of shadow IT, which indicates a hardware or software component that's not supported by the IT department.

How does a BYOD policy work?

A BYOD policy outlines what the company sees as an acceptable use of the technology, how to operate it and how to protect the company from cyberthreats such as ransomware, hacking and data breaches. It is critical to have a well-defined BYOD policy and understand the risks and benefits of BYOD in the organization.

The policy is generally available in a document that employees must agree to. It outlines that those employees needing to access corporate digital assets can use their personal devices if they meet the requirements defined within the BYOD policy.

A BYOD policy might include all or some of the following:

What level of access does BYOD offer?

It is not uncommon to find that BYOD offers employees the same level of access to corporate resources as corporate-owned devices.

Exceptions include environments where the data is highly sensitive and under strict regulatory compliance requirements. In that case, IT would limit the level of access for employees using personal devices. These limitations might come up in government organizations, financial institutions that deal with sensitive data, or even top executives at an organization that might be the target of hackers. In those cases, IT departments might deploy corporate devices to help keep them more secure.

While the level of access can vary depending on an organization's policies and security requirements, general levels of access in a BYOD environment include the following:

What are the benefits of BYOD?

A well-controlled BYOD environment can bring many benefits to a business. Common benefits of BYOD include the following:

What are the risks or challenges of BYOD?

While BYOD can bring numerous benefits to organizations, it also comes with its own set of challenges. Common challenges and risk factors of BYOD include the following:

BYOD vs. corporate-owned policies

Besides BYOD, there are a few other models and corporate policies for device management.

The alternative models to BYOD include the following:

These policies might affect employee satisfaction, however, because they require them to carry additional devices.

BYOD best practices

To successfully execute BYOD, IT must consider the following best practices:

Executing a BYOD policy

For organizations executing BYOD for the first time, one of the important aspects is setting expectations and training the employees. This should preferably be done during the registration process for the BYOD device or during an employee's HR and IT onboarding.

BYOD has proven to be an attractive policy for companies to adopt. It can bring convenience to employees along with cost savings for the company. Some in IT are concerned that personal devices pose a significant security risk, and without more controls of mobile devices, they are limited in the level of protection they can give. This concern has put some companies in the position of swapping out BYOD for corporate-owned devices.

A clearly articulated BYOD policy is essential for organizations permitting personal devices on their network. Learn the steps to develop and execute an effective BYOD policy.

23 Jan 2024

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