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Organizations that are not already evaluating the merits and risks of BYOPC should be.
Bring your own PC (BYOPC) - and the entire movement toward employees' "bringing their own" (BYO) technology to work - has been discussed and written about much in the information technology and business press. Articles focus on the technology and some of the policy aspects, all of which are important.
But what does it really mean for non-technical business owners who are simply trying to run their businesses in the best way possible?
Though many companies ask employees to use their own cellphones for work and provide a stipend or reimbursement for the charges, those same companies resist any talk of employees using their own computers at work. The reasons usually start with security and control, but speed by the benefits of greater employee satisfaction, increased productivity and costsharing that supports both the employee and the company.
Organizations that are not already evaluating the*merits and risks of BYOPC should be. It can mean higher productivity, improved talent attraction, higher ertiployee retention and can help to position the company as a leader in in space, versus a laggard.
From the beginning, companies have always provided the PCs that employees use. They settle on a standard model, or a small variety of models, and configure them with identical software and provide support from break/fix to assistance.
Often the PCs have specialized configurations to connect to company systems, such as customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), intranet and shared folders and other so-called "enterprisewide* systems.
Organizations may install software on the PC that monitors employee usage, enforces company policies and secures company data. There is no standard configuration used across all companies and each establishes its own standards for PCs. This approach works well for most companies today as it has since computers first made their way into corporations.
The Evolving Workforce
Over time though, PCs have moved beyond companies and are now commonplace in homes and in schools. In fact, many people have a more powerful computer at home than they do at the office, which is used as much, or more, than their office PC. Children use PCs from the time they are very young and throughout elementary...