Rise of bring-your-own-device IT pushing forward fleet technology, says Chevin

The rise of bring-your-own-device computing is helping to push forward fleet technology at a faster pace, reports Chevin Fleet Solutions.

BYOD refers to employees using their own smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks and other devices on work business outside of normal corporate IT policies.

Ashley Sowerby, managing director said: “In the corporate world, we have many users running our software on Windows XP desktops that date back up to a decade.

“Contrast this with the cutting edge personally owned devices that many employees use at work as part of their day-to-day lives and you can see the contrast. The BYOD devices are several generations in advance of the ‘official’ corporate IT.”

Ashley pointed to the fact that relatively few companies issued tablets to their employees yet Chevin know they are quite widely used to access its software.

He said: “So, to meet the need of the BYOD tablet, we develop our software and often make use of capabilities that are built into the device that are not found in any corporate desktop or laptop PC, a good example being GPS.

“In this way BYOD is helping to push forward development of our products at a faster pace than would otherwise be happening.”

Ashley added that there was also an argument for corporate control over the use of BYOD devices, especially from a security point of view.

He said: “The potential issue here is twofold. Firstly, if employees are using personal smartphones and tablets to access your fleet software, you have no control over who may try and access your system if those devices are stolen or lost.

“Secondly, there is a virus issue although it must be said that there remain relatively few viruses aimed at any of the operating systems commonly used in BYOD devices.

“However, there remains a strong case for modifying your corporate IT policies in order to take into account these possibilities and minimise their potential impact.”