The Perils of Employee-Owned Laptops in the Workplace

Your SMB clients want to save money, and one way to economize is by letting employees bring their laptops to work. But tread lightly, channel pros, and do your homework before counseling them to take the plunge.

By David Geer

With increasing pressure to control costs, some SMBs avoid having lots of PCs on their books and are encouraging employees to bring their own laptops instead. These companies transfer the trappings of ownership to the employee, says Stephen Kleynhans, a vice president in the client computing division at Gartner Inc., sometimes with unexpected consequences.

"A lot of employees flat-out buy the wrong hardware by picking up a laptop at Best Buy that simply is not designed for the rigors [of business use]," says Ryan Meyer, president of Meyer Technology Group Inc., a reseller in Des Moines, Iowa. And, with an employee-owned laptop, the company has no control over software installs, patch management, user names, passwords, or security--which could leave the company's intellectual property at risk.

"If it is a personally owned computer, protections go out the window because an organization cannot force employees to use them," says Michael Miora, CEO of ContingenZ Corp., a security consultancy in Playa del Rey, Calif. Miora, therefore, advises that SMBs steer clear of employee-owned hardware. Kleynhans, however, sees the "bring your own" trend as an opportunity. While most SMBs are not ready to relinquish hardware choice to employees, some are expressing interest in doing it anyway, he says, so why not sell them services to make it work?

A good first step is to look at Network Access Control or Network Access Protection products, which enable employees to use their own laptops, but prevent them from connecting to the company network if their security software is not updated, among other requirements. And, suggests Kleynhans, the savvy channel pro could offer these products and make that happen.