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Danger: Your Employee’s Cheap Cell Phone

As the technology of cell phones and smartphones advances, many organizations are allowing employees to “BYOD” – bring your own device. Rather than providing phones for employees, companies allow their teams to use their own smartphones to conduct company business. BYOD can lead to a great deal of cost savings, but it can also lead to a great many problems.

While new and top-of-the-line smartphones are designed to handle business communications, cheap cell phones and older-model smartphones can lead to a host of issues for companies. Some of those problems include:

  • Security – Many BYOD companies don’t take the necessary steps to ensure that employees’ devices are secure. Personal devices leave the company vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Cheap cell phones will be even more vulnerable to attack than high-end phones that come with built-in security features.
  • Communication limitations – Top-of-the line smartphones are designed to be used in a business setting. They can communicate smoothly with company networks, and are usually quite simple to configure. Older and inexpensive phones won’t be able to communicate as smoothly with the company network, making it difficult to utilize the phone in a way that makes BYOD worthwhile.
  • Difficult to equip – BYOD organizations should take the time to configure employee phones to meet the firewall, encryption, and security standards of the organization. New smart phones will be easy to configure properly. Older and cheap phones will not be able to be configured to meet network standards.
  • Reliability issues – If an employee is using a personal cell phone to conduct business, it is important that the device be extremely reliable. Phone calls should be clear, email should be reliable, etc. Poor service quality will reflect poorly on the organization.

While there can be many benefits to BYOD, there are some risks that companies must consider before they allow employees to use their personal phones to conduct business. Before adopting a BYOD policy, companies should put hard-and-fast rules into place about the types of phones that may be used and how those devices may be used for work. Companies should also have their IT department configure and secure each device to reduce the risk of security vulnerabilities.

As internet security becomes more critical, the quality and skill of your IT staff will also be critical. Staffing IT professionals can be a challenge, as technology continues to move at a breakneck pace. Fortunately, Dunhill Staffing Systems can help with your organization’s engineering and IT recruiting needs. We work with top-tier talent with a variety of backgrounds and expertise to help keep your systems running smoothly and securely. Contact us today to see how we can help your business succeed.