BYOD or Bring Your Own Device is a new policy that some of the startups have started to adapt to allow their employees to bring their personal devices like laptops to their workplace and use the devices to access company applications. There are still differences in opinions among different companies due to reasons like security, productivity, lack of professionalism and likewise, but the trend of BYOD is increasing exponentially in startups. Even some of the major IT companies have started to see the benefits of BYOD and adapting it slowly.

Why Is It Suitable For Startups?

Any startup at any given point of time is expanding and they need to hire freelancers, part-time or full-time employees from time to time. Adding a new employee means you have to provide them with resources like a new computer, a new smartphone or tablet if he is into testing, buying new software license to give him access and likewise. Instead, if the company allows the employee to bring the devices required from his home taking into consideration that he already has them, it is going to bring down the expenditure massively and that is what any startup would want. Furthermore, working on a personal device has been associated with an increase in productivity as the user is extremely comfortable using it and he can work on any task at his home when he has spare time.

Why Established Companies Allowing It?

An established company does not have any problem in providing the new employees with devices from the organization as there is no limit to expenditure as such for expansion. But the problem is that the organization’s computer or device may be outdated and it takes various procedures to allow an upgrade in hardware or in software throughout the organization. Instead, if they allow their new employees to bring their devices, they are likely to have the latest hardware and latest software and it is going to bring out the best outcome.

Furthermore, when meeting with clients, employees with personal devices are likely to perform better as they are used to it and work on presentation and other requirements overnight at the comfort of their home. Furthermore, allowing BYOD policy makes an employee attractive to the top-quality job seekers and when the companies post freelance jobs, they will be willing to work.

Current Trends In Bring Your Own Device(BYOD) As Seen In Startups –

POCE – POCE stands for Personally Owned Company Enabled policy. In this policy, an employee can bring his device in the workplace but the managerial control on the device will be defined by the company such as which activities they can do, technology they can use and the permission they will be granted. It is the trend in startups and the companies are willing to provide upgrades to hardware and software as it will cost them less and get the job done than giving a new device.

COPE – COPE stands for Corporate Owned Personally Enabled policy. In this policy, the company will provide the device but the employee will have the access to use it for personal usage. But the company will hold the permission to delete all the data when required. This is the current trend in popular startups and established companies and it helps in increasing employees’ satisfaction level and productivity level.

Improved Security – One of the biggest reasons why this BYOD is not accepted yet by multiple established companies to curb attrition rate is because it makes the company vulnerable to security attacks. In any workplace, the company has to provide security for different hardware and software configuration and this sudden scalability is not possible instantly. 2018 is the year when companies are becoming more open to BYOD policy because security brands are coming forward to help out immensely and make BYOD the trending thing in all the companies around the world.

Endpoint Management – Apart from security, it becomes really difficult to manage all the diverse devices and software from a central stage. That is where endpoint management comes in and it is not yet a main trend yet but 2018 could well be the time for the exponential rise in endpoint management which is tailor-made for BYOD policy. It lets you control all devices and software including inventory solutions, business applications, and office devices.

Cloud-Based Development – Since BYOD is difficult to manage from a company’s perspective due to diversity, the company can offer cloud-based developer platform and repository hosts like Github where everyone can work in a collaborative manner and the company does not have to worry about security and technology of the devices used by the employees. This is not only going to simplify the management but the management part is also going to become robust. Companies can post freelance jobs and hire anyone and integrate them to the system instantly.

The current trend and survey show that BYOD is going to be a permanent thing for all startups in the next few years. Furthermore, established companies are looking at it positively to increase productivity and reputation as an employee and decrease employees dissatisfaction. BYOD will allow startups to hire freelancers instantly without thinking much about expenditure anymore.

Kitty Gupta
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