1. The curious case of devices – Well not necessarily the devices, but rather what runs behind them — the Operating System. According to the OpenSignal, there are 24,093 devices to date. Android OS versions are fragmented – Lollipop – 18.1%, Kit Kat – 39.3%, Jelly Bean – 33.6% and older versions occupy the remaining space. It is important to note that Jelly Bean was launched in 2012. Adoption of operating systems occurs much quicker, with iOS8 having 85%, iOS7 13%, and earlier versions combine for 2%. Supporting all these devices can be a huge task and could result in greater costs than initially anticipated.
2. And Content – If you have already implemented online training programs in your organization, converting legacy content can be quite a task. The level of visual experience provided by Adobe Flash for desktops creates an expectation for its successor, HTML5. However, HTML5 is still developing in order to reach that level, and in order to reach that level, enterprises are having to deal with increased effort and cost.
3. Legal concerns – Although having employees complete training using their personal devices would increase engagement, it could also lead to issues regarding wages and overtime within your organization. If your organization has hourly or non-exempt salary employees, an unplanned BYOD training program can result in the possibility of paying employees for overtime. For example in Mohammadi v. Nwabuisi, the employer was found guilty for failing to compensate an employee who performed overtime work on a BYOD device.
4. Security concerns – Employee-owned devices contain a lot of confidential and personal training content, and many employees share these devices with family members. They even access training content using public Wi-Fi networks, which enables hackers to have the ability to gain access to these data. According to a study by Adaptive Mobile, about half of the companies surveyed reported a breach in data. Even with the rise of BYOD, 59% of employees reported not having signed any form of agreement with their employers regarding the use of their personal devices for official work.
5. On-premise training platforms – SaaS / Cloud-based training platforms can be accessed anywhere, but if your training platform is on premise, then providing your employees with applications and access on all devices outside of office premises creates an additional cost and support task for your IT team. This issue can be mitigated if you work with a SaaS partner with a support clause that includes providing applications on all other devices.

While there are advantages to BYOD training, with an unplanned implementation there can also be disadvantaged, such as an increase in both necessary efforts and costs for an organization, which could end up defeating the purpose of the training. While planning for BYOD training, it is helpful to be aware of the challenges you may face during the transition. As your organization’s training leader, it is important that you read between the lines and be wary of elements that could be cause for hidden costs, as well as make the training transition enjoyable for your employees.

Know more on how KITABOO can help you with your BYOD training pain points. Request a demo here.