Companies recognizing need for BYOD policy

Mobility is one of the hottest trends in technology, with cell phones, tablets, and other mobile devices being brought to the workplace in ever-increasing numbers. Known as "bring your own device" (BYOD), this change is clearly here to stay.

However, many companies do not have a formal BYOD policy, with only 24 percent reporting a plan in place, according to the Computing Technology Industry Association's (CompTIA) 2nd annual Trends in Enterprise Mobility study from February 2013. This is a 2 percent increase compared to the previous year. However, the number of companies that plan to create a formal policy has doubled from 20 percent to 40 percent in the past year as employers recognize the need for such a policy.

The CompTIA study also shows that 36 percent of companies have no policy in place, and no plans to instill one. This goes along with the TechRepublic BYOD Business Strategy Survey, also completed in February 2013, which revealed that 38 percent of companies had no plans to create BOYD guidelines.

As more employees bring their own mobile devices to work, companies must assess the security risks and costs. By doing nothing, company security is at risk as employees access email and other potentially proprietary data on their mobile devices. With a policy in place, access to data is controlled, and productivity can be extended to these devices.

If your company needs a BYOD policy, or if yours needs updating, get a head start and download the TechRepublic ready-made BYOD policy. This policy is available for free to all TechRepublic Pro subscribers, or can be purchased by non-subscribers.

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