Meaning “bring your own device”, this term is used for when employees use their own equipment, such as notebooks, smartphones and other personal devices, for work purposes.
There are advantages and disadvantages to this practice.
For companies, BYOD represents a reduction in equipment costs as well as a convenience for the employee who is already used to their own equipment, so that employees can work from anywhere. According to research done, BYOD can even result in increased productivity.
One of the biggest disadvantages of BYOD is the company's insecurity about the content accessed by the employee on their personal equipment, which can open windows for viruses and ransomware attacks in the company’s matters. It also concerns the confidentiality of the company's sensitive information and the freedom to audit this equipment.
Therefore, while the company reduces the cost of equipment, it may have to increase the cost of infrastructure to make different models and operating systems compatible with an employee's device and still lacks guarantee of security in this modality.
Thus, when a company contemplates the pros and cons of BYOD and decides to adopt this modality, it is important to establish additional rules in a formal agreement, such as: the mandatory use of certain software enabled by the company, installation of security tools, establishment of liability for equipment damage, access permissions, monitoring limits, commitment to the confidentiality of business information and definition of use limit for professional purposes.
Therefore, organizational change involves new approaches in order to avoid future problems for the company.
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