Taking Notice Of International BYOD Practices

If you run a U.S.-based and international office, it's important to keep them on the same page. If your company is part of the 44 percent of businesses that ZDNet has found participates in BYOD policies, or the 18 percent who are going to add a policy within the next 12 months, consider the impact on your international office. You may have everything working smoothly at your domestic headquarters, but you feel that BYOD would benefit your international efforts as well. Because of different laws in other countries surrounding liability, hardware availability and technology infrastructure, you need to adapt and adjust your policies so they're a help, not a hindrance, to your overseas offices.

Privacy Concerns

When a BYOD policy comes to an enterprise, you may want control over accessing certain types of information on the employee's device. This opens up a number of privacy concerns and liability issues, due to their personal information also on their hardware. It's made even more complicated when you work in overseas markets, as the requirements for employee data privacy may vary greatly from your home country. The New York Law Journal recommends looking at the European Union's privacy policies, which encompass a number of countries, for an example of the type of privacy expectations to put into place on your global BYOD policy. This allows employees to feel that their personal data is protected, while ensuring you aren't losing trade secrets to the competition.

Hardware Availability

When your employees have various types of smartphones used for work purposes, you may run into an issue where your employee does not have access to their wireless carrier. You can get around this by only allowing global enabled smartphones as BYOD devices. You may need to require phones that are compatible in particular countries, depending on the coverage available. Look into your options before you run into times where your mobile employees are completely out of touch. You don't want to be behind on giving them crucial up-to-the-minute information and data.

Consider the Cloud

If you want to promote an international workforce, but you don't want to have servers spread throughout the world, consider setting up a public or private cloud option that gives your employees access to the headquarters' technology. There are many cloud options, so research cloud reviews and features to make sure you're getting one that will work for your team. Employees can access cloud resources as long as they have an Internet connection. This saves money on setting up redundant technology, although it may increase the lag time and have some performance issues when you have employees logging in from thousands of miles away.

Mobile Device Management

You want to have a mobile device management application that handles multiple types of platforms, especially if your employees are footing the bill for their smartphones and tablets. Blackberry allows you to handle every type of popular smartphone OS and keep all of the policies in place. You will be able to remotely manage these devices as well as offer great privacy features that will keep your employee's personal data separate and safe from their work data.