Home topics technology Devices Tech Devices The case for a rock solid BYOD policy Muneyb Minhazuddin July 5, 2012 Some argue that a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy is now as important a part of the business communications landscape as having a telephone number or a website. Here’s what you should consider. Some major corporate technological trends simply don’t matter for SMBs – at least not in the early stages. Twenty years ago, for example, most SMBs didn’t need those brick-sized mobile phones that corporate execs had begun to carry everywhere. The money could be better spent elsewhere in the business. Mobiles are ubiquitous now, but it turned out that SMBs could safely and profitably leapfrog over the so-called “early adopter” phase in the evolution from fixed line to mobile. In other words, when most SMBs finally embraced mobiles, the technology was physically streamlined and much less expensive. It not only made business sense to embrace it, it had become a necessity. But the world is moving much faster now and the ground has shifted beneath the feet of business technology . Yesterday, the IT department drove technological adoption and integration; today, it’s the consumer doing the driving, or, more precisely, consumer technology. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is one trend that SMBs cannot afford to ignore. Arguably this is a trend that has been building up over a decade as mobile phone use has transitioned into widespread smartphone and tablet use; but now it is as important a part of the