In the world of mobile devices, usage falls into 2 main categories: personal and professional use. Thanks to the wide spread nature of mobile devices, the defining line between the two is getting blurred.
Having a device dedicated for work is no longer necessary. We instinctually pull out our smartphone or tablet to email a colleague or review a file while on the commute home. And with the help of cloud services and online sharing services, you can access your work from anywhere.
Yet whether you know it or not, using personal mobile technology for professional use is affecting workplaces on a large scale. How? Here’s a general look at what you need to know about this rapidly growing trend how it could potentially change the way you work.
What is BYOD?
BYOD or “Bring Your Own Device,” is exactly what it sounds like—bringing in your own device to the workplace. Thanks to laptops, smartphones and tablets, BYOD is a trend everyone is already taking part in. No doubt you’ve taken your mobile device to work, and have probably even taken it a step further by accessing your company’s networks and systems. Well, that’s the BYOD trend in a nutshell.
However, because these are employee-owned devices, businesses that support this trend need to develop regulations to accommodate them. Currently, there are companies like TrendMicro and Unisys, working to help develop BYOD strategies to make it easy for all parties to access and interact with company databases and servers safely.
Although as popular as it is to work “on-the-go,” BYOD is still a widely debated topic in data intense work environments.
The Pros & Cons of BYOD
Off the top, there are advantages which businesses and employees can gain . You can work anywhere, any time. The hardware is affordable, accessible and you can download any productivity app you need.
Combine that with company resources and IT workflows and your device becomes your most powerful productivity tool. It’s a dream for users who value productivity over location. Added benefits for adopting BYOD include:
- Increases productivity; faster response rates
- Companies save money on purchasing hardware
- The choice of system and device is up to the employee
- Flexible work hours; employees can work from home
- Direct access to company resources and systems (no need for third party services)
- A variety of apps can be used or integrated into workflows (document processing apps)
Yet, organizations are slow to adopt BYOD as a regular business practice. Mobile device management is a major concern for IT managers. For example, changes in mobile platform or device are crucial.
Whether it be Microsoft ending mainstream support for Windows Phone 8 or the critical release of RIM’s BlackBerry 10 platform, how does IT provide adequate support and security for all individual users?
Other issues keeping companies from integrating the BYOD model:
- Lack of consistency in the quality of apps
- Compatibility issues between apps and colleagues
- Data breaches
- Liability for devices if lost or hacked
- Difficult for IT to maintain control over files and data being shared
- Hardware and software support (power requirements, memory storage)
- Employees invest their own resources to buy new devices and apps
BYOD: Stats at a Glance
Is your company looking to jump on the BYOD bandwagon? Here’s a visual look at where the BYOD trend stands so far. Where do you and your company fall on this infographic?:
Source: The Magic Blog
Overall, it’s good to have a sense of the issues surrounding BYOD and what to expect. If your company is going BYOD, get the 411 on the regulations and policies they have in place.
You can stay up to date with the latest BYOD developments on ZDNet.com.
One thing you’ll need when it comes to sharing large PDF files from your iPad is a solid document sharing service.With Dropbox you get 2 GB free with the ability to sync Mac, Windows, and Linux computers. 
With Good Reader, you get some versatility along with the ability to mark up your PDFs. You can open Office, iWork files, hi-res images, and even audio and video files. 
On top of all the standard features offered by mark up apps—note-taking, highlighting, and sketching, PDF highlighter has a few other special features you might enjoy. 
For those who aren’t heavy duty PDF users, sometimes the basics are all you need.This is where PDF Reader Lite comes in. While it allows you to store only 10 files, it has all the features of a standard PDF viewer–bookmarking, table of contents, and basic file management features.
Ever receive a map in the PDF format? Here’s a geospatial app that not only lets you view PDF maps on your iPad but also lets you interact with them. Navigate through maps with regular iPad gestures, add/edit waypoints, find co-ordinates, and locate yourself with the iPad’s built-in GPS system. 
PDF Manager gives you the versatility you need to handle PDFs on your iPad. With this app you have a few ways to easily manage and share your PDF files: share files via popular networks (Twitter, Facebook, etc.),through email, or offline. 
As you know, PDF files aren’t really optimized for mobile devices, giving you a less than stellar viewing experience. To improve that, there’s Magachine. According to the translated webpage, this app can turn your PDF into a magazine style layout for easier reading.
Undoutedly, having the option to print up a file directly from your iPad is a necessity.Print n Share for Advanced Printing is a feature packed app that can print to all printers via Mac or PC, remotely over 3G, and to most WiFi printers.
*If you’re looking for more versatility with your PDF, check out PDF Snapshot. This app will extend your PDF applications to create, email and copy snapshots of images in your PDF. With the latest version, you can even annotate the PDF before you take the snapshot.