There are a number of benefits to adopting a company-wide BYOD policy. It cuts costs, since there will be no need to supply employees with work-specific mobile devices. It will lead to higher productivity, because workers will be able to use their personal devices that they already like and understand.
But while these are important benefits, there are some support issues worth considering when adopting such a policy. One particularly pressing one is bandwidth use. This may not be at the forefront of any BYOD plan, but it is likely to arise at some point.
"Employees may be more comfortable downloading personal content while at work."
Businesses should not assume that employees will necessarily treat their personal mobile devices the same way they might treat a company device. While company smartphones and tablets tend to be used exclusively for work, personal devices are often used for everything. As such, employees may be more comfortable downloading personal content while at work. According to an article in Beta News, this can include streaming apps, social media channels or even software updates.
Taken together, these can amount to major bandwidth hogs that force companies to invest more in their systems than they would otherwise. Software updates in particular are a problem because many popular devices are set up to let updates download automatically. Employees may not realize just how much bandwidth they are consuming.
It's important for businesses to build systems that will allow them to enact a successful BYOD policy. Agile IT modernization solutions can help companies adapt to these demands. Inventu's Flynet Viewer meets employer and employee expectations in a way that feels familiar and simple.