This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business
There’s plenty of reporting about the popularity of smart phones and tablets. Every day, a new report is released on the rise of mobile technology and cloud computing. By contrast, only 16% of companies surveyed have some kind of “Bring Your Own Device” policy in place.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) are programs surrounding employee use of their personal mobile devices instead of being issued a company device. There are many attractive reasons to consider implementing a BYOD policy: saves the company money on hardware and employees know how to use the equipment, increasing productivity just to name a couple.
But before implementing a BYOD program, organizations need to step back and consider several variables. These components will help your company implement a policy that meets the needs of your business.
1. Form a team. BYOD programs are more than just IT initiatives. Cisco IT brought together representatives from IT, Security, Legal, HR, Sales, Services, Engineering, and Operations to create their program. The Cisco Mobility Services team enables Cisco employees to work their own way using multiple devices all across the globe. Brett Belding, senior manager of IT Mobility Services at Cisco explained the reason. “Device choice is a reflection of your entire corporate culture.”