Bring Your Own PC

A common topic in companies lately has been Bring Your Own Device. And when we say BYOD, we are generally thinking mobile — phones, tablets, iPads and iPhones. The New York Times highlights another growing area of BYOD, Bring Your Own Computer:

At Kraft Foods, the I.T. departments involvement in choosing technology for employees is limited to handing out a stipend. Employees use the money to buy whatever laptop they want from Best Buy, Amazon.com or the local Apple store. We heard from people saying, How come I have better equipment at home? said Mike Cunningham, chief technology officer for Kraft Foods. We said, hey, we can address that.

What? How can a company manage a device it doesn’t own?

It’s actually much different than many people think when imaging what it would be like to have employees bring their own computer to work. Below are a couple of key requirements to building a successful BYOD program for laptops.

• Data: No data should be stored on the BYOD device. This is the game changer. Many companies are using virtual desktops on their BYOD device to access corporate assets. Lose a laptop? Who cares, it doesn't have any corporate data on it.
• Network: If you are going to allow any device to plug in, I like the idea of having them plug into a guest-type network. Have malware? Doesn't matter, you aren't connected to the corporate network. There are a bunch of different ways to build this out to protect yourself and not worry as much about your employee's device.
• Employee: You must make sure that employees know what they are getting themselves into. Most organizations are "loosely" supporting a BYOD device. If you break it? Head back to the store for them to fix it. A very non-technical employee may not be the best person for this program. That said, a very knowledgeable Apple user may be much better off on a MacBook than on a Windows PC.

I hear about many pilots at organizations around the United States. Many companies are hoping for reduced support costs, reduced risk of losing data, and much happier employees.

As originally posted at jayschulman.com on September 29, 2011.