Who Should Own Your Smartphone? 129
snydeq writes "The great corporate barrier against employees using personal smartphones in business contexts has been breached, writes InfoWorld's Galen Gruman. According to a recent report from Forrester Research, half of the smartphones in use among US and Canadian businesses are not company-issued equipment. In fact, some organizations are even subsidizing employees' service plans as an easy way to avoid the procurement and management headaches of an increasingly standard piece of work equipment. Gruman discusses the pros and cons of going with a subsidized, employee-owned smartphone plan, which is part of a larger trend that sees IT loosening its grip on 'dual-use' devices, including laptops and PCs."
I prefer complete independence, thanks (Score:5, Insightful)
Depends on usage (Score:3, Insightful)
I would always want my own unrestricted phone under my own control. If, as the case is now, that phone gets light-moderate work related use, that's fine since it beats the other option of having 2 phones. Also, if I drop or break it, there's no drama (apart from having to replace it). Now if I was using the phone for hours each day, I'd be wanting a separate work phone.
After some consideration... (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm going to have to go with "Me", Regis.
I have no problem using or not using it for work. If they want something specific, they can feel free to shell for it.
Re:It can be a blurry line (Score:4, Insightful)
But it is great to think of dumping all the procurement/management onto the end user...
Security and restrictions (Score:3, Insightful)
Do you care about securing smartphones, laptops, etc? Do you want to reserve the right to restrict their use?
If they can access and store company information, introduce infections into company systems, or pull customer information, then maybe you should reconsider the cost-saving approach.
Re:I prefer complete independence, thanks (Score:3, Insightful)
Sadly, if they subsidize your phone, they may actually incur legal liabilities of your actions.. For both parties it should be 100% separate. Just makes business ( and personal ) sense.
Re:It can be a blurry line (Score:3, Insightful)
Even though I own my own smartphone [nokia.com], ...where I work (a very large IT company) there is an increasingly lengthy list
of requirements and checks for any device connected to the corporate network...
This is the big issue with ownership & management - requirements for devices to utilize company resources (and whether or not the device needs to utilize company network resources). If the device will connect to the company network, the IT department has a very good case for managing (and/or owning) the device. It really comes down to network security, and disallowing rogue devices from connecting to the network. In a large company with many IT resources (and many to protect), it's far easier to say that the company owns and manages the device. In a small or mid-sized company, where there is less IT infrastructure to protect, or less need to weigh security against usability/ease-of-management, there is a better case to be made for user owned and managed devices.
Re:I prefer complete independence, thanks (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm with you. So far I've never had a job where I was asked to carry a smartphone as part of my job, and I'm glad for that (I wouldn't say no, but I wouldn't like the idea).
If I ever was asked to carry a smartphone attached to my corporate email, I'd at least think about using my own device so I don't have to carry two. I definitely don't want to do my personal business on the company-owned device, so I'd want my own, but depending on what degree I'd be able to keep my work and personal stuff separate on my personal phone, it might be a better option than two-fisting it. But if they were going to try to claim any access to my phone at all, the deal would instantly be off, and I'll dual-wield, thank you.
Re:It can be a blurry line (Score:3, Insightful)
Or when you want me to enable IMAP because that's all that a single employee's phone supports (and we use Exchange/MAPI like most similar companies), then again, I wonder why we let people use personal devices.
You know, because ticking a single box to enable IMAP is hard. And because you wouldn't want to allow pretty much every device under the sun, rather than a few in the exclusive have-paid-microsoft/are-microsoft club to connect.
Re:ME! (Score:1, Insightful)
When my company paid for my cell phone. I left it in my desk at work.
Now that they canceled that policy to save $$, they can go to hell if they want my personal cell number.
Your company having your phone number is a pretty normal thing.
Your company having your phone number doesn't change how many hours you are expected to work. If your company expects lots of unpaid overtime, I doubt having your personal cell number changes that.
And if you use your personal cell phone (or car, or anything else) for business, it's perfectly normal to file an expense report with your employer.
Re:It can be a blurry line (Score:3, Insightful)
I'll let the 'environment control me' when I get a budget large enough to take on whatever the end-users can throw at me. Until that unlikely day occurs I will continue to control my environment, extending it as much as my budget allows. To do anything else is fiscally irresponsible and simply bad for business regardless of what you think.
Re:It can be a blurry line (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It can be a blurry line (Score:2, Insightful)