Historically, bigger organisations provided staff with a corporate phone, often a BlackBerry or equivalent. Generally several generations behind the best of consumer devices, these phones were great for basic connectivity (email and calendar) but little else.

These days, many staff now have a modern smartphone and/or iPad as their personal device, and want to jettison their old corporate device.

Thus ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) was born. Pushed by senior and junior staff alike, organisations are increasingly expected to allow staff to access corporate information on their personal devices.

This is not without its risks, and should be approached in a measured way.

Benefits of BYOD

There are a number of clear benefits in supporting BYOD:

• personal devices are usually more modern
• staff get greater choice
• the number of devices is reduced
• staff may be more satisfied
• staff connectivity and availability may be improved
• more functionality can be provided for mobile and field staff
• cost of providing and supporting corporate devices can be reduced or eliminated

[May article by James Robertson, read the full article]