The More You Use, The More You Use: BYOD To Multiply And Intensify

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The working landscape appears to be as malleable as sand, more so these days than ever before; and as new technologies race toward the integral mechanisms of businesses everywhere with every passing minute, the manner in which we work is fast adapting with it; like water, the method takes the shape of its container. At the forefront of this new technologically-enthused working standard is the BYOD policy.

Bring Your Own...?

If you’re unsure about what BYOD actually is, allow me to explain. BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device, and it is a concept that has exploded into fruition recently in enterprises and businesses the world over. It essentially means employees can utilize personal devices to better carry-out their work, connecting these devices to company systems and accessing company assets through them. Whilst it’s not a new thing, it’s the advent of the smartphone, now a staple of the modern person’s integral pocket contents, that has really caused the policy take off in a manner quite unlike any single internal business ethos before.

So what does this mean for businesses? Essentially, many were quick to jump on the BYOD band wagon, as, in essence, the perception and the results show that it improves productivity. It streamlines an employee’s figurative todo list, and puts everything together in one easily manageable place, allowing him or her to keep abreast of everything that’s happening, in all aspects of his or her work, and cuts out many menial software-opening, computer-booting, logging in, logging out, waste of time tasks that could otherwise be spent being prolific. It makes the employer look flexible and open-walled and increases employee morale.

What’s not to love? Of course, this rise has caused a significant amount of data to be produced on the effects of BYOD across the board; does it really yield all these positive results, are there any negatives and what trends can we see from companies who employ its use most actively?

The Ripple Effect

For a start, the statistic for companies provisioning smartphones has declined 25%, whilst, of course, self-provisioned smartphones have risen, comparatively. The immediate backlash of this is, of course, data usage; and businesses are suddenly finding themselves, doubling and tripling the amount of data they use. Does this align proportionately to the increased productivity that comes as a result?  “Employees are using more data with more devices to work longer hours, anytime and anywhere”:  the sentiments of one Evan Kaplan, the CEO at wireless network solution and mobility services provider iPass, commenting on a recent report they conducted, that provided these figures.

Interestingly though, whilst the use of smartphones in the workplace has increased tenfold, there has been no comparable reduction in the use of other devices. In fact, that number has increased. “While the smartphone is ranked only behind the wallet and keys in importance, it's not displacing mobile workers' reliance on tablets or laptops” Kaplan explained. “In fact, our data indicates that smartphone users also use more data on other devices, revealing an interesting phenomenon -- essentially, the more you use the more you use."

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Security Calls

The chief risk that accompanies BYOD is, above all else, the security risk involved with allowing employees to take valuable company data about with them on an easily misplaced device the size of a credit card. Of course, many businesses demand remote wiping and cloud based backup as the definite solution to this problem, and it’s something that, with the right amount of control, could certainly alleviate 90% of the security risk with one simple product.

Essentially, the working landscape will keep changing; but with more devices being used for more and more work-related tasks, a trend that appears to be here for the long haul, the precedence on securing these personal devices and backing up that data should now be more focal than ever. With the right strategy though, businesses could reap all the benefits of increased productivity, remaining safe and becoming a better overall employer in the process. 

This article was written by Rob Vicars on behalf of Backup Systems – whether you’ve brought in the BYOD policy in full, or simply need a way to ensure your integral business files stay safe, Backup Systems can provide! 

Home Workers Should Forget the Old Laptop Balancing Act

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When I first started working from home the only problem I had was that my home office resembled a child’s nursery with a battered old laptop in it.

That is probably because that’s exactly what it was. The only place I could find to work from was my little girl’s old room, and my old computer had definitely seen better days long ago. I sat there with the laptop balanced on my knee and surrounded by Barney the dinosaur, a scary looking doll and assorted ducks as I tried to work. Needless to say, I soon found out that spending a bit of time and money on a good home office is worth it.

home office (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Find the Right Place

A nursery is no place to work from, and instead I found a nice corner of the kitchen where I could hook up to the internet and munch on yoghurts at the same time. Somewhere with plenty of light and fresh air is ideal and my kitchen fits the bill nicely as I can leave the patio door open when the sun comes out.

Get the Right Equipment

The laptop I used to use was no good at all for working with. It was slow, it crashed when I tried to do too many things on it once and it had no decent music on it. As I was just starting out as a home worker (do they still say telecommuter or does that make me sound old fashioned?) I was a bit worried about spending a lot of money on new machinery. The final straw came one day when the blooming thing didn’t boot up until 10 in the morning. Admittedly I had only switched it on at 10 to 10 but it was still far too long a wait for me. I got a shiny new desktop PC which promised to lead me down the technological highway (that’s another outdated phrase, is it?) at breakneck speed. I couldn’t believe how fast it was and how many games were pre-installed on it. Now my only problem is that I want to spend a bit of time each day poking around it to see what else it does.

Sort the Furniture

My spanking new PC sat on a wonky old table at first, with the speakers on the floor and the keyboard on my lap. My wife asked me why I didn’t buy a computer table at the same time and I honestly don’t know why I didn’t. I quickly got onto the task and before the week was out my computer was perched on a glass topped table with loads of shelves for my cartons of juice and a nice drawer to keep my biscuits in.

Protect Yourself

I had only ever used the internet for fun before; looking up football results, seeing what on Earth that Facebook malarkey was all about and helping my Mum find out what latest contagious disease she is apparently suffering from. Then one day my sister said to me that I should be wary of rookits, spyware and Trojan horses. When she told me that people could grab control of my computer and steal the money I had been working hard to build up I immediately panicked and started looking for all the protection I could find. Thankfully she told me that all I really needed was a good antivirus and that this would protect me against all of the current risks. As a home worker this is one of the most important things I have done and while it might be a less obvious improvement than some of the other ones it is nevertheless something which I am glad I did.

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Every home worker should be sure to protect their data with a good program like the McAfee antivirus.

Infographics: The Independent Workforce

A new and independent workforce is emerging and they appear from all type of work-field. Some call them freelancer, some call them soloprenuer still to other they are known as part timer. What ever we may call them they are here to stay and continue to grow as more ad more businesses and company utilizes the highly adaptable workforce. The beautiful infographics from Mavelink.com below shows the current states of this new workforce. 

New Independent Workforce

Top Tips for Breaking into the Competitive IT Industry

Due to the state of the economy, the IT industry is now more competitive than ever. People with careers in this field are constantly improving and gaining new skills and pushing their creativity and innovation to the limit in order to beat the competition. For someone who is new to the IT industry, breaking in can seem very difficult to impossible. Here are a few tips for breaking into the competitive industry that is IT.

Unlike a more static field like law, Information Technology is a field that is constantly changing and developing. New technology is always being developed and new skills are always popping up just waiting to be practiced and mastered. To successfully break into the IT industry, you're going to need to be informed of new developments when it comes to technology.

You need to stay current and be informed of all IT trends. Visit websites, such as Computer World and Tech Spot to ensure that you know all the necessary information to find and keep a job in the Information Technology industry.

Learning and development is important for all people in the IT industry. Since technology is always changing and new skills are constantly being developed, employees in the IT industry are going to have to constantly be learning mastering new skills to be employable. The IT industry is a fast-paced industry, and you won't survive if you aren't willing to change your ways and be very flexible.

In most professions, gaining new qualifications is greatly encouraged and recommended but not necessary. However, employers in the IT industry actually expect their employees to value and practice learning and development.

If you want to break into the competitive IT industry, you can get some certificates in Cisco, SQL, and UNIX. Although it is possible to get a job straight out of school, it's much better to get a few qualifications to give yourself an advantage over the tons of competition.

Fortunately, you don't need to spend a lot of money trying to get qualifications when you're in the IT industry. You just need to sacrifice some time and put in some effort. For most skills, you can learn them at home on the computer. In fact, there are many online courses that are actually for free. If you're looking for a career in the IT industry, you can practically get qualifications for free.

However, once you learn the skills, you're going to need to get certified, which almost always costs money. Google has a training center, and once you master the skills you were learning, you can take the corresponding certification exams. Each certification exam costs $50, but the qualifications look very good to employers on a resume.

Once you have the skills necessary and more, it wouldn't hurt to gain some experience. You can look around for internships or make your own samples of your work. If you get an internship, especially one that's paid, the company may decide to hire you at the end if you do your best.

As you can see, breaking into the IT industry isn't as hard as it seems, but you will need to exert some effort if you want to get a secure job in the IT industry that pays well.

Written by Lucy Hunt, a technology and business blogger with a keen interest in career development and the IT industry. Lucy currently writes on behalf of QA, leading providers of technical IT and learning development courses in the UK.

Real Time Information and Payroll Software

Real Time Information (RTI) is being introduced by HM Revenue & Customs and will radically change the way in which all employers make their Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and National Insurance Contributions (NIC) returns. RTI will have significant implications for payroll software. Although not yet in place, HMRC expects all employers to be providing RTI by October 2013.

Under the current system, employers send information about tax and NIC deductions for each employee to HMRC at the end of each tax year. Under the new RTI system, employers will tell HMRC about these deductions either before, or when they actually occur.

The fundamentals of PAYE will remain unchanged. Employers will still deduct tax and National insurance but it is the frequency of reporting these deductions which will change.

The reasons for these changes are listed as; the need to improve the way the PAYE system operates, making the process simpler and less of a burden for employers (although HMRC accept there will be transitional costs), making PAYE more accurate, allowing HMRC to ensure the correct deductions are made, and making the calculation of Universal Credits more straightforward, where applicable.

RTI reporting must become integral to normal payroll operations. Software systems will be required to gather the information and send it to HMRC via the internet, through the Government Gateway, or by using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), which is expected to be available at least until 2014. RTI is likely to require payroll software systems to provide HMRC with a significant amount of information about each employee and successful submissions will be dependent upon the collection and accuracy of this data as compliance checks will be carried out after the data has been sent.

For the longer term, HMRC expect systems to become available that would allow employers who pay their employees electronically by BACS to automatically send their RTI at the same time.

HMRC are to pilot the system with a number of software developers, commencing in April 2012. The pilot will last for 12 months with all employers being expected to have joined the RTI system by October 2013, although most are expected to join in April 2013 so that their systems are properly embedded by the October deadline.

Rashed Khan hold an MSc in Software Engineering and enjoys guest posting on business/technology related topics. 

Related articles

• Payroll Real Time Information - An Accountants View (sage.co.uk)
• Getting your data ready for Payroll Real Time Information (sage.co.uk)
• The way you do your payroll is changing (sage.co.uk)
• PAYE - why there could be a nasty surprise in the post (simplybusiness.co.uk)

 

Technical Support: Sharing a small knowldege

Greeting to all, before i continue with the series on Self computer maintenance, i would like to share a bit of information on how to make a Technical Support job easier. Off course this not applicable to all Tech Supp job out here. But i hope with this i can help some Tech Guy how to make your job easier if your the only one in your company and if that company allows employee to take good care of there own computer unit. Again this not applicable to all. Being a technical support guy for all sort of computer problems in a company is rely hard and it also harder if your the only one there. Your expected to solved almost any computer problem that the company and its employee encounters. Luckily we have the good all internet as our resources to help us in our daily task of trouble-shooting the computer hardware and software and to help and guide all the employee and Big Boss at our company. Now how can we possibly make it more simple and less demanding. The answer share a little bit of your knowledge on almost everything you do to all of them. After the training you must follow it up every now and then to make sure they are doing it. Also to let them know that this is serious stuff and you are serious in training them.

At first it will require a huge amount of task and energy on your part but the benefit of this in the long run will be more than enough satisfaction if done correctly and positively. even your manager will be able to notice the different in productivity for each employee by reducing idle time and maximizing the effectiveness and prolonging the life of the computer.


Star with the basic, like how to properly refresh the computer if its being used all day long. Explain it to them in plain simple terms that the computer just like any other machine needs to be refresh from time to time in order for it to function longer, therefore making them more productive. Don't do it by yourselves, guide them on a step by step task on how to properly shutdown and restart the computer. This way they will be able to do it by themselves id they feel that the computer is becoming sluggish in it performance. Explain it to them nicely and keep it simple how important it is do this as to maintain the right condition to make the computer more reliable in the long run. Be a friend them them and have the patience to share this one with them. Thereby giving them the basic tools needed to understand how there computer works. Also the solution to the most complex computer problem is sometimes prevention. Just alike a sickness or deceases, before started to become more serious, at its earlier stage the problem should be nip in the bud. This must be emphasis on the employee by your the Tech Support Guy pf the company. They will listen to you because they know that it is your job to know how to solve or fix the problems they encounter. Another plan of action is to scheduled seminar with actual hands-on exercises. Make a plan in advance draw up the topic you wish to train the employee. Topic that doe snot require in-depth technical knowledge for them. It must be easy and FUN for them so they will not be bored and they will become interested and pursue it even after the training. Of course you have to coordinate this with your boss and every person involved in the decision making.