A Report on

Case Study 1.1(Should Smartphone

be used at work)

Prepared For: Ankur Sandal

Prepared By Amit Kumar

( A00106100)
Case Study Questions

Q1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of

allowing employees to use their personal
Smartphone for work?
 
Nowadays, due to the rapid increase in the growth rate of technology usage in companies,
more and more employees are allowed to use Smartphone to accomplish day to day tasks.

Merits of usage of Smartphone in organizations:

 The efficiency of the employees is improved up to a great extent as employees are used to
operating their smart devices which allow them to carry these devices with them
everywhere, understand how it works, and they already have their system for keeping
track of contacts.
 The cost incurred by the companies for purchasing devices like laptops and desktops is
saved as workers use their Smartphone to get the benefits of mobile work for companies
without spending the company's money on the devices.
 Mobile gadgets offer easier communication among different levels of the organization.
 Such technology-oriented equipment helps employees to stay updated with the latest
technology, rather than allowing them to use traditional approaches.
 The comfortability of the workplace will no longer be an issue due to the availability of
such devices.

Disadvantages of usage of Smartphone in organizations:

 Allowing employees to use their personal devices will raise the security
issue of the company's data.
 Since different employees use different types of Smartphone, thus the
compatibility match of the corresponding devices with each other will be
another concern.
 Phones often require regular system updates and backing up options which
is an extra effort involved for the company to allow the employees to
efficiently use mobile phones. 
 Using a personal phone for official work might not look correct in
professional terms.
  Finally, as people spend their time playing apps, games, and surfing the
internet, it might influence and degrade the company workflow and thus the
output.

Q2.  What management, organization, and technology

factors should be addressed when deciding whether
to allow employees to use their personal Smartphone
for work?

Various factors such as time management and productivity should be considered as how the devices will
be used to perform operational duties. The organization has to decide if the use of the employee’s
personal device would be beneficial to the company in regards to productivity and overhead cost. From
a technical point of view, a sound IT system has to be created in order to maintain as well as provide
support to the employees for their specific mobile device.

Management Factors:
Sometimes management in an organization tries to test new techniques, which can put forward
some challenges in front of management to regulate the transactions. Moreover, management
might not have a regulating policy or check & balance mechanism for the new arriving trend.
Thus, the usage of Smartphone shall change the way of a formal reporting system. Management
in an organization is all about managing manpower and their activities, so the requirement of
capable and technically sound devices might help to control all the activities efficiently and
effectively.
 If employees are allowed to work with more than one type of mobile device and
operating system, the companies need to keep track of all the devices used by the
employees.
 A business firm needs an efficient and effective inventory management system to keep a
track of devices used by the employees to find its location.
 A software development teams in an organization should ensure that new applications
will be easily usable and useful on Smartphone. The applications and software need to be
used on mobile devices to connect to the firm`s existing IT platform and company-wide
CRM, SCM, and ERP systems. Mobility experts can help the usage of the company's
leverage mobility more effectively.

Organization Factors:

 The security, inventory management, support, integrating mobile devices into pre-
existing IT functions and systems, and measuring return on investment should be
addressed when deciding whether to allow employees to use their personal Smartphone
for work.
  Integration of mobile devices to incorporate strategies in companies to carefully examine
the business process and determine whether or not mobility makes sense for them or not.

 When employees make changes to their personal phones, companies need to quickly and
flexibly ensure that their employees are still productive. Firms need an efficient inventory
management system that keeps track of which devices employees are using, where the
device is located, whether it is being used, and what software it is equipped with
company needs to provide adequate technical support to employees.

Technology Factors:

 Providing adequate technical support to every employee could be difficult in case of the
availability of a variety of phones and operating systems available.
 The corporate IT resources are important for managing and maintaining a large number
of devices in an organization. The company’s networks must be configured to receive
connections from the employees’ mobile devices and operating systems to access the
information in an organization.
 A software development team of a firm can have the advantage of having one person
specifically focused on ensuring that new applications will be easily usable on a
Smartphone.

Q3.  Allowing employees to use their own

Smartphone for work will save the company money.
Do you agree? Why or why not?

Yes I agree that allowing employees to use their own Smartphone

for work will surely save the company’s money, due to the following
reasons:
 Company will be free from the overburden of buying laptops and
pc’s for individual employees.
 Application required for mobile platforms are relatively cheaper
than that of PCs.
 Company need not bother of managing separate desk phones
because mobile phones are more reachable and cheaper.
 Company will be free from repairing and repurchasing Laptop and
PCs, which will reduce expenses of the company in long run.
Opinion:

Permitting employees to use their own Smartphone for work will save
money of the company with upfront cost in short run but over the course
of time, it may cost more to maintain a sound system with multiple
available platforms. The creation of applications that work on multiple
mobile platforms may be beneficial but only if the system is
restructured.

References:
http://miscasestudychapter5.blogspot.com/2015/11/question2.html
http://binodbajagain.com.np/blogs/67
https://primus.ca/business/en/content-hub/cat/blog/post/advantages-
disadvantages-of-personal-phones-in-the-workplace