BYOD
The letters BYOD are an abbreviation of the term "Bring Your Own Device." You can translate this term as "bring your own device." It is a term you hear a lot in organizations that focus on The New Way of Working or flexible working. After all, in practice, this means that employees do not have a fixed workplace and go to work at flexible times.
This new way of working makes it a particularly difficult task for an organization to provide smartphones, tablets and laptops that can be used efficiently. In order to make this modern way of working possible anyway, without making unnecessary investments in (digital) business assets, the term BYOD was introduced.
This makes use of the already existing capacity in digital assets. In other words, employees are asked to use their own private devices in the workplace. The principle of BYOD is interesting not only in terms of cost savings but also because of its ease of use. After all, no time is "lost" because employees have to learn to work with company devices that are unfamiliar to them. Employees are already familiar with the device.
The mentioned advantages of working according to the BYOD principle also bring some disadvantages. After all, many different devices are used which can be a big challenge for the IT department. In addition, there can be major security risks related to data loss, a virus or a data breach, among others. Such situations can create many legal complications.
Finally, the intended cost savings can be quite disappointing. After all, many companies do pay employees a fee to maintain the equipment and reimburse any subscription fees. It is important to establish a good policy on this to properly budget for these types of costs.
