It is increasingly the case that employees are using their own technology—hardware, services and even applications—while on the job. This has become known as the “consumerization of IT,” and it represents a shift in how technology is discovered and adopted.

Historically, employees were introduced to new technology at the office and only adopted it at home when its value to their personal lives became clear and prices for the technology went down. But today, it’s more likely that employees discover new technologies on their own and bring them into the workplace as they see fit. There are several areas where employees use their own technology at work. On the hardware side, smart phones lead the way, although some employees are also taking advantage of tablets and video recorders.

Employees also routinely use Skype and other consumer communications services to place business calls and to stay in touch with friends and family when they are at work or traveling for business, or to place free conference calls if they do not have an enterprise-grade option available to them at the office. They are using file-sharing tools such as Dropbox to exchange documents. And they are taking advantage of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media sites to build stronger relationships, and share and see information. In the process, employees are opening up the organization to a new world of collaboration.

At first look, this trend looks good for businesses, as employees can save companies money by buying and using their own technology on the job and by using free services instead of those paid for by the company. However, it also leads to security and governance risks and a distinct lack of control over the technology and its use.

The cloud is the perfect solution when considering a BYOD friendly work space. Application sharing and network infrastructure in a cloud environment offers the best of both world, quick access, reliability, security and redundancy from where ever you are, on the planet.

Essential Data Services can help you maximize your potential.

Learn more about the benefits of the Cloud https://essentialdata.ca/cloud-computing/

Essential Data Services offers cloud data storage and recovery solutions through partnerships with IBM and Asigra. For more details, contact us today at 1.866.408.2737 or [email protected].