Business
Should you Allow your Employees to Use Personal Devices?
Given that there will be an estimated 6.1 billion active smartphone users by the year 2020, it’s fair to surmise that mobile technology will continue to grow at an exponential rate in the near-term.
The proliferation of mobile technology has been a trigger for numerous trends in the business world, particularly with the emergence of premium handsets and increasingly advanced feature phones. Through distributors such as fonehouse, customers now have access to cutting edge technology and devices at genuinely competitive prices.
As a result of this, entrepreneurs have been able to empower their employees through the principles of BYOD, through which individuals are able to use their own smartphones, tablets and laptops in the workplace. This offers a number of advantages to business-owners, including the following:
- Transfer the Costs of Ownership to Employees
In simple terms, BYOD allows businesses to transfer the various costs of ownership to their staff. This includes the initial cost of investing in hardware, along with maintaining individual devices and securing upgrades on a cyclical basis.
This can help firms to establish a lean and more agile business model from the outset, while it also allows businesses to reduce their annual costs and boost their margins.
With this in mind, you can focus on connecting these devices across a secure network, so that sensitive data relating to your clients and employees can be safeguarded at all times.
- Empower your Employees through Flexible Working Directives
Flexible working directives are now in full force throughout the UK labour market, as anyone who has completed 26 consecutive weeks of work with their employer can apply to tailor their hours.
Businesses (and particularly SMEs) can struggle to afford their employees flexibility, however, especially when they have minimal resources to cover core business hours. The integration of BYOD can help with the transition, however, while reducing the initial cost of setting up individual employees to work effectively from home.
By offering flexible working schedules to your staff members, you can empower far greater levels of performance while also making it easier to attract and retain top industry talent in the future.
- Increase the Productivity and Profitability of your Workforce
The issue of productivity is one that continues to rage in the business world, as entrepreneurs begin to understand that working long hours does not necessarily translate into higher levels of output.
Instead, the current generation of employers are focusing on creating agile workspaces and schedules that can be tailored to get the best out of each individual staff member. BYOD is central to this, especially as employees are already comfortable using their personal devices and are able to complete a higher volume of work outside of office hours.
This means that core working hours can be spent on important and collaborative tasks, while laborious and time-consuming chores such as answering emails can be done at home or during the daily commute.
This approach can also increase the profitability of each individual employee, in relation to their
unique cost base as assets to the business.
