If you’re all about giving your people IT they don’t hate, you might be on the cusp of a hefty dose of Choose Your Own Device (CYOD). Yep, giving your team some IT freestyle does offer certain business benefits, but it’s not all pink unicorns and fairy dust. There’s some serious stuff to consider, so here’s what you need to know.
Erm, Remind Me What CYOD Is, Please
Delighted. CYOD is an approach whereby an organization allows its people to choose the type of device they want to use for work. There may be parameters or rules – in fact, there should be – but choice is the principle at play.
CYOD: Why It’s Not A Terrible Idea, Sometimes
A well-executed CYOD culture can have pretty good business benefits. Here are our favorites in diagram form:
Recruitment & retention: “Cool, you’re letting new people choose their device? You sound awesome. I’m in!” say your easily-impressed new hires.
Enhanced employee satisfaction: Who doesn’t like a.) choosing a new device and b.) feeling valued because your employer actually wants to make you happy?
Enhanced productivity: Choosing a device that works for you because it’s a.) what you’re used to (no learning curve required) or b.) better for your job role, so more likely to get you up to speed and productive more quickly than a device you’ve never used before.
Enhanced flexibility: Tablet? Laptop? Smartphone? It’s easier to work flexibly when you can choose a device that actually supports how you work.
It’s not BYOB: That’s the tweet.
But CYOD also has its complexities, so we’ll hit you with the stuff you need to think about. Here goes:
CYOD: What To Know
1. How Much Choice Is Too Much?
It’s never a good idea to wave the magic banana and promise your people whichever device they’re longing for. If you do, you’re looking at a long list of devices you’ll need to buy, secure, support, and maintain. Device heterogeneity makes it challenging to standardize security and compatibility: you’ll be dealing with different platforms, device configurations, and software versions. Controlling all that comes with a cost (if you don’t got the tools) in terms of dollars and security vulnerabilities. Who wants that? No one.
On the other hand, offering your people a choice between a Surface Go or a brick is not really a choice.
2. Should You Include BYOD in CYOD?
Some of your people might be happiest using their personal devices for work purposes, and there are benefits to BYOD. But there are also nasties, like extra security vulnerabilities and risks to corporate data. There are ways to address these, but you need to think it through.
3. Create A Pre-Approved List
It’s a CYOD best practice to create a pre-approved list of devices for your people to select from. This gives you a thought-through menu that means no surprises, better cost control, and a better-planned IT ecosystem. You’ll already have decided which devices and platforms you’re prepared to support and how well certain devices fit with different role requirements.
For example, if you offer anything but a Mac to a designer, you’ll get your kidneys handed back to you on a platter. It’s often a good idea to create different sub-lists for employee roles so you can guide people to choose a device that works for their deliverables and their preferences.
Another fun part of creating a pre-approved device list is that you can use it to negotiate better-than-horrible prices with suppliers. Strengthen your bargaining power with suppliers and streamline purchasing by:
- Making bulk purchases to reduce the overall cost of new devices.
- Encouraging competition among potential suppliers and growing productive long-term relationships with those you already buy from.
- Simplifying purchase decisions: you’ve already decided on the devices you need, so there’s no need to waste headspace assessing others.
4. Think About Your Spares
Some devices last longer than your hires, and if you maintain your IT fleet adequately, you’ll have a pool of good-as-sort-of-new spares waiting to be re-assigned. Ain’t nothing wrong with including your pre-loved devices on your pre-approved list: it’s a gold star toward your green ambitions.
5. Get Yourself Mobile Device Management
Here’s the biggie. The miracle of MDM ensures that you can offer CYOD liberally yet safely. It’s a centralized management tool that enables you to do All The Things to keep your unholy mix of devices controlled, secured, and configured correctly. It’s your CYOD enabler, and here’s why:
| Mobile Device Management (MDM) for Successful CYOD | |
| Function | How It Supports CYOD |
| Device Enrollment | Fast, automated enrollment ensures each device, whatever it is, conforms to your corporate and regulatory security requirements. |
| Provisioning | Automated role-based provisioning gives your people access to the correct files and networks, whichever device they’ve chosen. |
| Standardized Configuration | Ensures each device is configured appropriately and monitors for anomalies. |
| Policy Enforcement | Ensures that each device stays compliant with corporate security requirements. This may include enforced OS updates and passcodes, automated patching, denylisting, and access controls. |
| Application Management | Different devices use different operating systems and software. MDM centralizes and secures admin and management of various required apps and platforms. |
| Remote Support & Troubleshooting | If users have problems with their devices, MDM deploys remote troubleshooting for solving problems. |
| IT Asset Register | Because MDM pulls together your entire fleet of devices in one centralized dashboard, it acts as an IT asset register or inventory. This allows you to see the bigger picture, including the types of devices in your fleet, how they’re being used, and who uses them. This info is useful for productivity and purchasing decisions. |
CYOD Doesn’t Have To Be Scary
CYOD is something you can offer your people without crying yourself to sleep at night, as long as you’ve done the heavy brainwork of deciding your strategy and what you’ll put in place to secure and enable it, i.e., MDM. If you already have MDM, you’re not only a right-thinking switched-on business, but you’re probably 84% of the way to best-practice CYOD. If you’re at all CYOD-curious, call us. We can help.
Ignition is Silicon Valley’s best (and friendliest) IT security, compliance, and support team. Contact us now – chatting about IT support and cybersecurity is our favorite thing to do!