Peer to Peer Magazine

PEER TO PEER: THE QUARTERLY MAGA ZINE OF ILTA 20 BEST PRACTICES Today's workplace is full of blurred lines, particularly related to employees, their privacy and their devices. About the Author Vikas Pall is a Senior Consultant at Kroll Ontrack, an e-discovery software and consulting technology company. Vikas works extensively with corporations to facilitate and improve information management and discovery response capabilities, including bringing together in-house counsel, information technology professionals, records and information management professionals, and business personnel to develop defensible, practical, cost-effective business solutions to information governance and e-discovery challenges. Contact him at vpall@krollontrack.com. From Blurred to Secured Four Steps to a Better BYOD Policy Employees expect the flexibility to integrate their personal and professional lives, including using personal devices for day-to-day employment duties and vice versa. The days of doubling up on devices to keep the personal and professional separate have passed, with bring your own device (BYOD) policies emerging as the most enticing option for employees and companies. According to "Wearables, BYOD and IoT: Current and Future Plans in the Enterprise," a recent study conducted by Tech Pro Research, nearly 75 percent of respondent companies said they permit or plan to permit BYOD. While the advantages of BYOD are clear — improved employee efficiency and reduced corporate costs, to name a couple — taking on the ambiguities and complications that can come with having employees bring their own devices to work can be a risky move if an organization fails to put a well-planned policy in place. Below are top things to consider when building a BYOD policy: Assess: Crafting a well thought out BYOD policy is the key to fully utilizing its benefits, but a perfectly planned policy does not appear overnight. The policy must be effective, relatively simple and easy to follow for end users and the IT department. Communication across departments is the best way to make sure all bases are covered. Deciding on a program for a BYOD policy will set the foundation for several decisions that will follow. From requiring that users download a mobile device management profile to taking a containerization route, companies have a wide range of program options to choose from before giving employees access to corporate content on personal devices. Making a well-informed selection from the medley of device management options alone requires: • Insight from IT (including information security), human resources and the legal department on the benefits and concerns affiliated with each option • Knowledge of the budget available for implementing the BYOD policy A wise decision for companies concerned with efficiency is to streamline this process by creating a steering committee with a voice from each key department to help determine what devices to support, the specifications of their service agreements and the details of other procedures, such as device security and exit strategies. Communicating ideas interdepartmentally at the forefront of building your policy will help identify and address potential complications early on. As a prerequisite to building out a BYOD policy, companies must identify if they have the financial flexibility to make the shift to BYOD, which should influence the way they shape their policy. Whether a company has the resources to manage

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