Bring Your Own computer

More than ever before people have extremely fast, and solidly dependable, computer technology in their houses. The cheapness of most technology from broadband to wireless printers has seen the average apartment has far more computer speed than the processors that carried man to the moon.

This causes a challenge for businesses and for their employees. The computers in companies generally trails behind the latest changes for individuals, so you often find yourself working in front of a computer that's enjoyed more than ten years of work and is still chugging away, whilst your brand new smartphone rests on the table right beside the old mouse.

So, many enterprises have come to the conclusion that one way to get around this is to permit employees to use their own computers. There are many ways of achieving this, but one particularly good option has been to present a small sum of cash from the business as money off for employees to acquire their own computers. They then must use these computers for work.

The strengths of this are obvious, companies can save thousands of pounds by not investing in a wide-scale overhaul of their computer systems, whilst employees can work more comfortably and quickly outside of the workplace without being concerned about interaction with the system.

The biggest problem, however, is the security of the system. If you're using your home computer for work, it's more at risk of other individuals seeing what you're working on, particularly if your personal computer happens to be your family one. Additionally, there's a more profound threat of exposure to viruses, with no company firewall in place.

Few of these drawbacks are insurmountable, however, and things have been made simpler by developments in cloud computing which allows staff to access company databases without being physically attached to the company mainframe. Further, it's often thought to be more efficient to let employees to work from home from time to time, particularly if they enjoy a sizeable commute.


So, the offices of the future look set to be smaller affairs, with a small number of computers, and those that are operating belonging to employees who have brought them in for the day. That said, all the spare rooms around the UK may be about to be promptly made into offices (those that aren't already) so office furniture suppliers like Ryman will be expecting a slough of orders!

Sarah Field is a freelance writer. An ex Royal Marine, she now enjoys the quieter side of life working in a fish and chip shop in Devonshire with her six dogs. Sarah aspires to be a full time writer and uses all manner of office furniture as her muse. For all wireless printers and other office equipment she recommends Ryman.