What do you do about BYOD?

Like it or not BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is becoming increasingly important to mainframe sites. BYOD is the policy of allowing employees to bring their own mobile devices (laptops, tablets and Smartphones) into work and use them to access corporate applications and data.

Research group Ovum has found that whereas 79% of employees in the high growth markets (Brazil, Russia, India etc) are more likely to embrace BYOD, this figure reduces to 44% in the more mature developed markets like the UK. This still means that nearly half of organisations in the UK are likely to be embracing BYOD as a policy.

BYOD management vital

Worryingly, Ovum also discovered that there is a distinct lack of BYOD management everywhere. On average only 20% of employees who use personal devices have actually signed a policy that governs their behaviour. With there now being a high level of acceptance and encouragement in the UK for BYOD the need for a policy to manage this is vital.

With many mainframe sites now wanting to make data available to other platforms, it is important to take stock of your position and ensure that you put in place the necessary controls to prevent future problems. Logicalis, who commissioned the research by Ovum, recommend the following steps are taken by all organisations that encourage BYOD:

1. Draw up a BYOD policy if you have not already done this
2. Communicate that policy to your workforce
3. Ensure all employees have signed a BYOD behaviour policy and draw attention to any relevant clauses in their employment contracts

BYOD can help improve collaboration and productivity but, like any process, it needs to be managed properly. Make sure you do.