Does BYOD at work really work?
In the article, Leclercq (2015) discussed the “growing but under-appreciated trends” of “bring your own device” (BYOD), which is the idea of permitting employees to use their own devices for professional business and IT consumerization, which is the concept of adopting consumer technologies in the work environment.
Gens et al. (2011) elaborated that IT consumerization was much deeper in the meaning than the BYOD as IT consumerization was not simply about employee owned devices in the workplace, but it also involved the enterprise use of consumer applications such as Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Consumer IT were already being used extensively in the enterprise as employee-owned devices account for 40.7% of the devices used to access business application (Gens et al., 2011). Leclercq (2015) suggested these trends were growing in importance and its impact on business and thus it was critical for companies to understand and to support them with appropriate strategies instead of restricting employees from using their own devices and ignoring the trends due to security concerns.
Employees and managers have contrary perspectives regarding the use of consumer devices for work-related purposes. The young and tech-savvy workers who were passionate and familiar with cutting-edge technologies perceived that their personal devices were even smarter and more powerful than those provided by their companies and able to foster their efficiency and productivity. Therefore, they expected a right rather than a privilege to freely use their technologies in the workplace (Leclercq, 2015).
In contrast to the increasing interest from the employees, the attention of managers for IT consumerization and BYOD is very limited. Very few companies addressed the implication of IT consumerization due to the concerns regarding information security and reliability as well as reduction on employee performance gendered by the consumer technologies (Leclercq, 2015).
Furthermore, the study of Gens et al. (2011) also revealed that though a majority of IT leaders admitted that the IT consumerization was irresistible, they were unable to manage the tremendous increase in the workload rendered from consumerization; thus, they were more likely to limit or even prohibit the use of consumer devices and applications inside their organizations.
Harris et al. (2011) conducted interviews with senior executives in various industries to study how organizations were tackling IT consumerization within their businesses. Their study pointed out that the companies had been applying one of three strategies: anarchy, authority, or adoption.
The companies applying anarchy strategy allowed consumer devices and applications to be used freely in the organization. On the other end of the spectrum, the businesses adopting authority strategy imposed strict control and policies to limit the use of personal devices inside the company walls. Applying the adoption strategy which stays between the extremes of anarchy and authority, the companies accepted the fact that the IT consumerization is inevitable, acknowledged and supported the use of consumer devices by adjusting their policies and existent IT infrastructure in accordance with the needs of employees.
There is no doubt that each strategy has pros and cons. For instance, anarchy strategy encouraged entrepreneurship, promoted the innovative organizational culture, and reduced expenditures on IT equipment substantially, but it traded off data security as well as technology standardization and compatibility. Leclercq (2015) suggested that no matter which strategy the company choose, to ensure a successful execution, the company should thoroughly examine all the aspects of the strategy as the hidden cost engendered from issues like technology standardization and compatibility might outweigh the benefit of cost saving.
Even though there are still many concerns and challenges need to be tackled, IT consumerization presents huge opportunities and meaningful implications for organizations. Harris et al. (2011) argued that consumer technologies were easy to implement and able to augment innovation, productivity, creativity, and work satisfaction in the workplace. Furthermore, the technology can be used in copious creative ways. A salesperson can work from home using his own laptop and utilize social media or communication applications on his smartphone to develop customer relations anytime and anywhere. A nurse can use her camera phone to capture picture of patient’s injury and transfer it to a doctor via her email for diagnosis or consultation. A manager can quickly generate or view business reports on his iPad while he is waiting at the airport.
Besides these examples, the article of Leclercq (2015) presented a specific case study of Volvo which had incorporated the IT consumerization to its business successfully. Acknowledging the demand of employees for accessing the corporate data outside company, Volvo’s IT department built a customized service that allows employees to install enterprise applications on their own mobile devices.
The company addressed the information security issues by applying different techniques including wiping the corporate data remotely in case the employees’ device was lost or stolen. Volvo named its new program “open innovation” to emphasize the focus of this strategy which was to promote the innovative thinking and ideas among employees. Starting with basic and essential enterprise applications and services like emails and work calendars, the program had evolved and expanded the services offered to satisfy the needs of employees. As a reward for this effort, the company was recognized as highly attractive workplace by prospective employees.
In conclusion, despite there are still many concerns and challenges, the IT consumerization and BYOD are undoubtedly unavoidable. If they are embedded in the business strategically and successfully, they surely engender substantial benefits, including efficiency, productivity, creativity, cost savings, etc. However, from social perspective I am wondering if the trends should be encouraged and promoted because using personal devices for work would make it harder to separate life from work and may deplete the work-life balance.
References:
Gens, F., Levitas, D. and Segal, R. (2011). Consumerization of IT study: Closing the consumerization gap. Retrieved from http://www.achab.it/Download/kaseya/Doc/IDC_Consumerization.pdf
Harris, J.G., Ives, B. and Junglas, I. (2011), The genie is out of the bottle: Managing the infiltration of consumer IT into the workforce. Retrieved from http://www.finyear.com/attachment/321147/
Leclercq-Vandelannoitte, A. (2015). Leaving employees to their own devices: New practices in the workplace. Journal of Business Strategy, 36, 5, (18 – 24). http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/JBS-08-2014-0100
