BYOD means “Bring Your Own Device”. This is a phenomenon that will continue to grow as devices get more common, and as people keep bringing their devices into the office. Here are some things to think about:
Bandwidth
BYOD can cause bandwidth issues and of course, bandwidth is how much internet connectivity you have. A lot of people use services to stream music or movies to their phones or tablets while they work (think Pandora or Spotify over headphones or Netflix in the break room). These services can suck up valuable bandwidth which can cause issues with your cloud applications or your ability to conduct business that requires internet access.
Security
BYOD-related issues are on the rise. We’ve seen viruses migrate from personal devices to business networks simply by connecting to the network. Devices aren’t always protected… or if they are, they may not be secured to the level your business requires, especially if you’re working with protected information.
Keep in mind, too, that if someone is accessing corporate data on an unprotected phone but then loses the phone, your data is potentially unprotected. In another scenario, imagine that an employee is terminated. Well, he or she will leave your office with your business data on a device that you don’t own (AKA Dropbox).
So What Can You Do?
If you have a lot of employees and this is a frequent topic of discussion or concern, we can create a Guest Wi-fi to shield your network from personal devices owned by employees or contractors. We can even allocate bandwidth to this Guest Wi-fi so that bandwidth-hogging applications won’t affect your operations.
In addition, we can help you formulate and share an Acceptable Use Policy to explain to your employees how the network and supporting infrastructure should be used. Such a policy can ensure that everyone stays productive while taking into account what happens when people bring in their devices.
