“Bring Your Own Device” (BYOD) Increasingly Important to Small Business Budgets - Page 2
This doesn’t mean you should eschew personal tech use at your small business — it means that you should be forward thinking and planning ahead. “These survey findings should act as a wake-up call to galvanize corporations into proactively managing and securing corporate data accessed by mobile BYOD devices before they suffer an expensive and crippling loss or hack,” according to ITIC principal analyst Laura Didio.
Usher through your front doors an employee with a well-used tablet, and you have empowered someone who might be able to extend your business well outside the storefront. With a plan, proper training about the importance of protecting your corporate data, and limits surrounding tech use during work hours, you might be able to reach clients even in difficult situations. Rather than lose a client who can’t come to you today, consider paying mileage and asking your employee to go abroad with their smartphone or tablet, and assess the clients’ needs. Throw in a mobile hotspot, and you can receive photos and notes real-time, as well as videoconference with the client while still keeping an eye on the store.
If your IT person has a rigid stance against BYOD, have a face-to-face meeting and write down all of his or her concerns. Go through them one by one, keeping in mind that there may exist a solution to each of them your IT person is unaware of. Empower IT to research potential solutions, explaining that the cost of a safe network can pay broader dividends, if you can extend the hours of option and/or reach consumers where they are.
If there are some holes in data security, agree to compensate as needed to patch them up tight. This will show your IT person you respect their opinion and expertise, and provide the message that you still want to move forward, hand in hand.
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