5 Critical BYOD Risks

As a small business owner without an IT background, you may not know the phrase “BYOD.” But you know that your sales and marketing staff take their own tablets on business trips and access business data from their personal laptop. By allowing staff to access workplace resources with their own device, you open yourself up to risk and security vulnerabilities. Learn about the top 5 risks of having employees use their own devices in the workplace.

1. Lost/stolen/hacked devices– Perhaps your worst nightmare with BYOD would be the loss or theft of a device. In the wrong hands, sensitive business information could come to light that could compromise client confidentiality, business agreements, or product development.

2. Data theft– In some cases, dissatisfied employees have used their BYOD privileges to steal business data. While this is a scenario no one wants to confront, the reality is that it can and does happen to businesses who go BYOD.

3.Privacy concerns– While staff gladly go to IT to troubleshoot workplace tech issues, many have their own privacy concerns about turning their personal device over to IT. You must spell out what happens to personal data during troubleshooting to alleviate problems from arising later on.

4. Costs – If you anticipate reimbursing employees for text, data, or roaming usage, you must adopt a policy. Horror stories exist of employees running out to buy family phone plans, and then expensing them. Without a plan that spells out allowed costs, you could end up spending $100,000 or more to switch to BYOD.

5. Loss of productivity– If you don’t take a stance on what apps are barred from workplace, you risk having employees take Angry Birds breaks out of boredom.

Don’t let these risks put you off of letting employees use their own devices in the workplace. We can help you develop BYOD policies that mitigate these risks and protect your business assets. To talk more about this or any other aspect of BYOD,  contact us. Thanks!