A few years ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find companies that thought letting workers use their personal devices (iPads, smartphones, etc.) for work purposes was a good idea. But all that seem to be changing.
A number of companies have said they’ll add a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy for workers next year as a way to cut costs. One of the most well-known proponents of this option is IBM. The mega-corp. says half (around 200,000) of its workers will use their own tech gear to do their jobs in 2012.
If a company that large is confident it’ll go smoothly, perhaps it can work for the smaller guys, as well. Of course, certain safeguards are essential. Here are two key features of IBM’s BYOD policy:
Limits. Employees must download from an IBM-approved list of apps.
Data protection. All IBM employees’ devices are loaded with a program that lets its IT department wipe away all of the data in the event a device is lost or stolen.
Also, while employees are required to pony up for their own gear and usage plans, IBM offers tech support for them
