Articles
What does BYOD mean?
When you see this acronym, you can be forgiven for thinking of BYO so soon after the festive period, and you are on the right track. Whereas BYO, or BYOB, means Bring Your Own Bottle to a party, BYOD means Bring Your Own Device to work. Getting the two mixed up – announcing your arrival at a party by displaying your laptop, or arriving at the office brandishing a bottle of wine – is a route to social pariah status either way.
So how does this affect management?
BYOD isn’t a new trend. It’s been giving IT security experts a headache ever since mobile phones effectively became mobile computers. But the proliferation of tablets, smartphones and laptops means that most companies have resigned themselves to the fact that it is impossible to stop. Instead, companies are beginning to see BYOD as a resource.
So people use their own computers at work instead of the company’s?
Sometimes, but the main idea is that the company allows the worker to select their own IT tools in order to ‘empower’ them.
Empower? In what way?
A growing number of companies now allow, if not encourage, things such as home working, remote working and hot desking. So smartphones, laptops and tablets have become essential pieces of equipment that are always by an employee’s side. Ensuring they like the devices, enjoy using them, and that they are effective, contributes to job satisfaction and productivity. There’s a sound argument in saying that the person doing the job is best placed to choose the tool that suits them best.
OK, but give me one example.
Network Rail has given its staff more than 25,000 iPhones and iPads in the last four years. Around 18,000 of these were for frontline maintenance staff, operations and safety and engineering teams. A series of apps provide staff with technical data, GPS locations and paperless reporting. And look at how Network Rail is doing…