Enterprise Communications Featured Article

I knew the writing was on the wall the first day I brought my own laptop into the office more than a decade ago. It wasn’t that I was lacking a computer in the office; it was that I had to work quick to hit a deadline and I needed software that could get the job done in time and that I already knew how to use.

Using my own laptop at work proved wildly successful in terms of productivity, and my forays into bring-your-own-device (BYOD) increased as I began later to use my smartphone in the office, use my tablet, and use cloud services that were not specifically company-sanctioned.

BYOD not only is a temptation for any worker with a smartphone, which is now 58 percent of all adults in the U.S. according to a recent poll by Pew (News - Alert) Research. BYOD also makes good business sense.

That’s because it enables workers to use software they already know how to use, and to get things done when their company’s IT department is slow in responding.

BYOD also brings with it added opportunities to work when the work needs doing, not when just in the office.

As deadlines extend, responsiveness becomes even more crucial and work becomes more globalized, clocking out at 5pm is increasingly antiquated. Yet, being at work all day also is unsustainable from a work-life balance perspective.

BYOD solves the problem, partially, by allowing workers to work from time to time at home without having to necessarily be on the clock or chained to work resources all day long.

“Armed with the ability to be productive from wherever they happen to find themselves, employees are able to accomplish tasks when it's most convenient for them,” noted Mike Davis recently on the Tadiran blog. “They no longer have to be in the confines of an office to be productive. Instead, for example, they can be sitting in the bleachers watching their children play soccer.”

All these benefits are why roughly 67 percent of employees currently use their own devices in the office according to Microsoft (News - Alert), and 42 percent of companies have embraced BYOD.

More companies need to embrace it; Gartner predicts that 70 percent of workers not chained to their office will be using their own devices for at least part of their work by 2018. Whether businesses like BYOD or not, they need to have a plan for the policy in place.

“When it comes to considering your enterprise communications policies, BYOD should be at the top of the list,” noted Davis.

BYOD is here to stay, and companies can help shape the appropriate use of personal devices for business or let their employees do it organically. Either way, BYOD is not going away.