Working with personal devices
Working with personal devices (BYOD)
Times change, and so do fashions, and working with personal devices is an increasingly common trend applied to the dynamics of work.
Working with personal devices or BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is a company policy whereby employees use their own personal devices to work and access company resources such as:
- E-mail access
- Access to databases
- Access to computer applications
- Access to servers
- Etc.
And as we have said, this trend is becoming more and more widespread as it is estimated that 90% of employees use their own devices in some way to access company information. In this case it seems logical to have an internal regulation, but first let’s take a closer look at what it means to work with personal devices.
Benefits of working with personal devices
We expose the factors understood as benefits of working with personal devices in the business and work environment:
For the company
- Reduced spending
- Increased productivity
For workers
- Labor flexibility
Disadvantages of BOYD
We expose the factors considered as disadvantages of working with personal devices in the business and work environment:
For the company
- IT staff reinforcement
- Information security risk and risk of sanctions for non-compliance with regulations
For employees
- Own resources expense
Evaluate to decide
We will try to help our customers and supporters evaluate whether the benefits outweigh the disadvantages of applying the BOYD policy.
To this end, we have prepared a table as a customizable tool, in which we will set out the 6 factors detailed above (benefits and drawbacks) and give them a value for each one from 1 to 10, with 1 being the least important and 10 the most important. These values could be quantified in economic terms or other factors that help to identify the importance of each factor within the company. The idea is to offer a simple tool that would serve as a starting point to get a preliminary idea and with the result to know whether to discard or proceed to a deeper analysis.
Obviously, we give the value that in our opinion has each factor, but the interesting thing is that each company customizes it according to their circumstances or their own criteria. The number of devices to be managed or the type of data influences in a different way, i.e., it is not the same that data on office furniture measurements are exposed than patient medical records.
Our hypothetical case of feasibility evaluation of a policy of working with personal devices, is a small company of 50 employees whose activity is the wholesale of office furniture:
BOYD Benefits | Value | Disadvantages BOYD | Value |
Reduced spending | 7 | Strengthen IT Dept. | 5 |
Increased productivity | 8 | Security risk and sanction | 10 |
Labor flexibility | 9 | Own resources expense | 7 |
Total Benefits | 26 | Total Disadvantages | 22 |
In our assumption, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages, so this would be the starting point to analyze in more detail the economic issues, valuation of the workers, etc.
It is possible that the factors may also be different from one company to another, so it is vital that each entity evaluates its own pros and cons of using this modality, and in case of opting for the BOYD policy, all possible precautions are taken to avoid ending up being victims of a security incident and possible sanctions in terms of personal data protection (GDPR), which would be the greatest economic risk to which we would be exposed.
Having expert professionals
We noticed a very common problem and that is that many companies are not prepared to implement all the technical and organizational measures for a policy of working with personal devices.
In addition to approving the mode of working with personal devices, other corporate security policies must be developed that contemplate the decision to opt for the BOYD mode. For example:
-Authentication policies and passwords
-Networking policy
-Personnel Rules on the use of the information system and personal data
-Security Breach Communication Policies
-Periodic audits and controls
-Training in data protection, information security and cybersecurity.
-etc., etc.
It is obvious that everything is easier if we count on experts in Cybersecurity y Data ProtectionIt is obvious that everything is simpler if we have experts in Cybersecurity and Data Protection, who elaborate these policies, who advise us on the most appropriate options taking into account the peculiarities of each company.
In conclusion, there is no doubt that BYOD is taking hold and everything points to the fact that it will continue to spread.
However, to enjoy the advantages of this trend, count on professionals to advise you.
We help you
Business Adapter® is an expert consultant in Data Protection Law and Cybersecurity solutions. Do not hesitate to contact us without obligation.