Good Example Of Bring Your Own Device Case Study

Benefits of BYOD

The benefits of BYOD include maintaining employee satisfaction as most employees prefer using their own technology in all circumstances (Pitichat 2013). The BYOD allows employees to select the platforms they are most comfortable with increasing their job satisfaction. BYOD also provides flexibility especially when employees can perform work-related tasks at different locations. The work-from-home opportunities presented by BYOD will attract new talent and support them as it is a strong selling point. The BYOD also has the benefit of increasing employee productivity. The employees can work from different locations and at different times supporting limitless work schedules. BYOD also improves communication amongst the employees enhancing the working experience. For example, an employee can solve a work issue that happens over the weekend without waiting for Monday. The BYOD also has the benefit of supporting the utilization of the company’s’ infrastructure. Most firms invest valuable resources in cloud computing services and wireless technologies; it is only in order that they are utilized.

Risks of BYOD

Security concern is one of the major risks facing BYOD (Thomson 2012). Device security is a concern because of the various makes and models that the employees bring to work. Device security deals with lost and stolen devices, physical access, increased data access and lack of awareness. Security controls for dealing with the risks include, the use of passwords for protection, encryption of the data in the devices and wipe out procedures for lost or stolen devices. BYOD also presents app risks involving malicious apps and app vulnerabilities. The technologies and controls being used to counter these risks include mobile anti-virus programs, security processes that cover mobile app development and managing apps regularly. BYOD also increases platform and inventory management risks in the organization. The hardware and the software holding and accessing company data is changed at the will of the employees. The security control involves creating and enforcing device support and usage policy.

Example of BYOD

The Ottawa Hospital in Canada is an example of an organization that has had its productivity affected positively from adopting BYOD. Initially, the hospital adopted mobile devices to allow clinicians to order tests provide instant approval of request orders, access and view the images of diagnostic tests and other results. The hospital adopted the iPad devices which were made available to physicians and residents as part of the mobile system. The move was beneficial and prompted the hospital to allow nurses to bring their own devices since the hospital could not avail them with iPads. The hospital supports BYOD iPads after registering them with the identity and access management group (Sarah 2014). The mobile system has different levels of access to various levels of patients’ data. Although the hospital has not fully put in place security systems and policies increased, productivity has been reported. The hospital has been digitized and is now paperless. The hospital is also able to provide timely and accurate care for their patients.

Implementing BYOD

I would consider implementing BYOD concepts in a real organization. There are several risks associated with the move, but the benefits are much more and outweigh the risks. Adopting BYOD will increase productivity especially where the employees do not only bring the devices but use them to perform work related tasks. BYOD does not create new risks it only extends the already existing risks in the organization (Hovav and Putri 2014). There are various technologies and security measures that are available for adoption to ensure that the BYOD does not affect the firm negatively. Although the company will spend resources in ensuring the risks are mitigated the benefits it will receive in return are well worth it. I would consider BYOD after assessing the risks and the commitment of the management to support the implementation of the same.

References

Hovav Anat and Putri Frida. (2014). Employees’ Compliance with BYOD Security Policy: Insights from Reactance, Organizational Justice, and Protection Motivation Theory. 22nd European Conference on Information Systems. Tel Aviv. Retrieved from http://ecis2014.eu/
Pitichat Thiraput. (2013). Smartphones in the workplace: Changing Organizational Behavior, Transforming the Future. LUX Journal 3(1):3-8 doi:10.5642/lux.201303.13
Sarah Marshall (2014). IT Consumerization: A Case Study of BYOD in a Healthcare Setting. Technology Innovation Management Review. Retrieved from http://timreview.ca/
Thomson G. (2012). BYOD: Enabling the chaos. Network Security 1(2): 5-8. doi:10.1016/S1353-4858(12)70013-2