I’m going to try and be better this year about my Tech Thursday posts.  So I thought I would start with what continues to be a hot topic in the tech world, Bring Your Own Device.

Today you see and hear commercials from many different companies about working anywhere, and video calls.  You can be there without being there, is what many companies are using in their messages.  They are showing the ability to be on the road all the time, and talk to your family over video.  My question is, why are companies sending the message of putting the family second, why not show customer meetings over video while playing with your kids.  To me this is the benefit of a company having a BYOD program and remote access into the workplace.  There are multiple case studies and surveys out there showing higher levels of job satisfaction and higher levels of productivity.

BYOD, It’s why we have a 128GB iPads, Ultrabooks, 4G Hotspots, Virtual Desktops, and more laptops than full desktops.  But where does support start and stop on these devices?  Who owns the data on this device?  These are the biggest challenges and struggles that IT Admins are dealing with today.  It becomes a situation of security issues, if Employee X has been downloading torrents at home, and then keeps running them at work, not only could hinder the network speed, but it could also release a wealth of worms into the corporate network, infecting hundreds of systems.  But what employee really wants the IT staff to load a 2GB security profile onto their personal device that will let the IT team track, lock, and wipe that personal device.  Its a matter of managed freedom for lack of a better term.

Businesses are in the tough position of keeping employees happy and productive, while keeping company owned data – within the company.  Also the company has to figure out how these devices are going to access the local network, and local files.  There are some companies out there planning wireless upgrades and planning for 6-8 devices per person.  And if an access point can handle efficiently 40 devices, you can see where this number would just keep increasing, just to get the devices connected to the internet/network.  And even if a company says they are not implementing BYOD, I have just one question, How many of us have our work email coming into a personal device?  If you are at home, can you access your email from a webpage, then you can have it on your phone/tablet/whatever.

My suggestion to Businesses and IT staff, Don’t just say no, your employees will find their way to the googles and figure out how to do it themselves.

To employees and end users, Don’t be stupid.  If you are putting work information on your personal device, to me, you should be on the hook if that information goes missing or gets into the wrong hands.