The trend of BYOD – bring your own device – is on the rise as the global market for BYOD is expected to reach approximately $181.39 billion by 2017.
A number of organisations allow employees to bring their personal devices, laptops, tablets and smartphones to work and use those devices to access privileged company information and applications.
According to a study by Microsoft, 67% employees use their personal devices in the workplace for official work.
Even though a number of organisations and management agree that that BYOD has been successful and benefitted the company and the employees, there are a few things that you should consider before allowing it on your network. Here are some of them:
The first step to managing BYOD on your network is to understand who gets on your network. Do you have an open BYOD policy that allows any and every device to connect to your network through wireless? Or do you register users before they are allowed to join? Make sure that you authenticate users via password when allowing them on the network. Also, consider which devices are supported on your network to avoid future hassles.
Consider the extent of access that you allow your employees over the BYOD network. Make decisions whether they will be allowed full network access or internet access only? If complete access is allowed, make sure that you have a security policy in place to prevent loss of confidential information.
Malware, viruses and other safety issues related to computer devices should be given prime importance. They are affecting more devices than ever. Even the Android operating system for smartphones is prone to these issues. Make sure that you have a screening process in place that will detect all types of viruses to protect all computers on the BYOD network.
What if employees are interested in using the corporate software on their personal devices? Does licensed corporate software have terms that enable you to install the software on machines that are owned by the employees and not by your company? All these aspects should be investigated carefully.
What about employees who work off-site? How will they remain connected to the network? Ensure that your network allows a point to point access without dropping sessions so that users are not required to log in again, causing a delay in their work process.
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