Giving a new employee a phone that is registered to the company used to be sort of a rite of passage. It used to mean that you were somebody important when you had a Blackberry that was hooked up to the company’s enterprise servers. There were also some negatives when it came to using a company issued cell phone, the biggest of which was that the company generally had a pretty good idea of how the phone was being used right down the minute. There wasn’t a whole lot of privacy being had. Because of this, most people had their company issued cell phones and then would go out and buy a personal phone, such as the iPhone.
Because the iPhone was generally thought of as a step up over the company issued cell phone anyway, more and more companies have begun an embracing a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy when it comes to employees’ cellular and mobile devices. The iPad has had a hand in getting this policy implemented as well, as companies are seeing all the different things that can be done with a tablet that is so much smaller than the usual desktop dinosaur.
The BYOD policy would not be nearly as popular as it is without the full endorsement of a company’s IT professional. While the prospect of having to service literally dozens of different kinds of devices can be daunting at times, most IT professionals agree that in the end, the lack of time spent making sure the phones are being used within the corporate guidelines eases the mind.
Even companies that are well known for their high tech offerings are finding that employees simply want the freedom that comes with BYOD. VMWare is one company that once had a policy of only using a corporate phone and they were willing to offer several different versions in order to try and keep their employees happy. In the end, the ability to pick whatever they wanted and not have it dictated won out. VMWare most likely won’t be anywhere close to the last to get rid of the company issued device.
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Edited by
Brooke Neuman