Why BYOD for startups is a good idea
BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is becoming an increasingly acceptable concept in the startup space. Here are my views on the benefits of BYOD and a bit on how to handle it in your startup.
Reducing depreciating fixed assets in your startup!
The most pressing issue in any startup is the fund. The concept of BYOD has gained a lot of traction. It decreases cost and increases productivity.
Laptops and mobile devices are fixed assets and they depreciate over time. With BYOD, you'll have a stronger balance sheet with one less depreciation expense to hog up your profit and loss (P&L).
Feeling a little relieved? Yeah, I too was.
I had no idea about P&L, balance sheet, depreciation and fixed assets until recently. Nevertheless, it would always be better to have an idea about what they are.
Build an awesome customer support culture
If you can call/email an inbound lead within 60 to 120 seconds, you will have a better chance of converting them as a customer. In a startup scene it is fortunate, right? I believe that once you have a great product and a support culture, the rest will follow. BYOD and mobility allows you to respond to customer queries in no time.
Result, you will ultimately win the heart of the customer and gain more customers.
Work from anywhere
BYOD allows you to work from anywhere – your home, or on your commute, or while on your vacation.
Improve productivity – Reducing the learning curve and time to settle down:
It is not that easy to switch machines, you might have different keyboard layouts, different operating systems, and you might not have files you were working on. If you face this frustration every single day, will you be happy?.
I will be more comfortable if I can complete personal and official things from the same system or phone. I guess it is the same for everyone. With BYOD, employees do not have to switch between their personal and company devices. They gain more flexibility and will have better work-life continuity.
The result, they are happy and productive. As founders, we are happy too.
You can concentrate on your work rather on IT tickets
Employees will be more careful while using their own devices. They will also fix any issues related to it themselves. Thus, this will help reduce the stress level and request/tickets related to user devices.
Security risk and team culture:
Deploy countermeasures to promptly identify and mitigate security risks. Educate your team about the security aspects and trust them, they are part of your startup family. From an employee perspective, it is an immense pleasure to feel you are an integral part of the team and that you have earned their trust. Every single team member should have this feeling, it will improve the entire culture and atmosphere.
The result, highly motivated and productive employees, which reflects on the overall growth of your organisation.
Note: when you hire, give utmost priority for the culture and attitude. Hire him/her only if you get that family feel.
Using EMM/MDM tools to manage BYOD:
Deploying a tool requires your time and money. Thus, spend your time and money wisely. There are free tools too, but sometime it might be costlier in terms of time and effort. There is no free lunch, it would be better to think about the total cost of ownership when you choose any tool.
Think about an EMM/MDM tool when you are at that stage, where you can't survive without one. Spend your time wisely and choose the one which is affordable and saves your time (time is precious) and effort in managing the devices.
Best of Luck, go and make your dream come true.
(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)
