With enterprise favorite, BlackBerry, slipping in favor among consumers who wish to use their mobile devices to watch video and browse the web and purchase larger screen iPhone and Android devices to do so, many businesses are accommodating that trend by allowing their employees to use those devices rather than the company issued BlackBerry.
The result of this in the short-term should be happier employees and lower costs to the employer who no longer has to supply mobile phones to its employees. However, in doing this, the employer assumes certain risks. When an employer supplies mobile phones to its employees, it can control how they are used, make sure that they are secure and even include encryption features, if necessary.
Furthermore, in the event that there is litigation against the employer, electronic discovery may require that employees turn in their personal phones, which they now also use for business purposes, for inspection by their employer’s adversary. While much of the material on that phone may be in the cloud; e.g., Facebook postings and even calendar entries, contact lists and phone numbers as well as browser search histories may be discoverable.
In addition, in a labor dispute, because the employer now cannot shut down the enterprise network after hours; as it has no control over the employee’s personal phones, there is a risk that hourly employees may claim additional or overtime pay for e-mail written for their employers on their own time.
What should an enterprise do; (1) like the Pentagon (Even though International Data Corporation (IDC) reported on June 6th that BlackBerry only had a 6% market share, the Wall Street Journal reported a month earlier that the Pentagon had approved the latest line of BlackBerry phones for agency-wide use.), it can continue to supply phones to its employees. Most are not likely going to use their employer-issued BlackBerry to play games or watch videos, (2) include a requirement that the employee sign off to use his personal mobile device for business purposes, similar to checking out a library book, and sign in to indicate that that device is no longer being used for business purposes (This could be done in the evening or prior to an employee going on a trip where use of the device will be necessary for business purposes and upon an employee’s return), or (3) in the company’s personnel manual, also signed off by the employee, require that the device only be used during regular work hours, and if used on the premises during those work hours, used only to check the enterprise’s business accounts. As reported in yesterday’s Bloomberg news, such requirements may be difficult to enforce. See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/missile-defense-staff-warned-to-stop-surfing-porn-sites.html
