Employees want to bring their own devices to work. That’s the talk in technical circles. Users argue that they want to use the same cool stuff they use at home while they’re at work. They don’t want to use some piece of crap laptop from Dell. They don’t want that Blackberry (is that company still in business?).

The IT people talk security. The users talk productivity. They argue back and forth. This debate has been going on for a few years.

What the Fuss Is Really About

Let me clue you in to the reality of the debate. Your employees really don’t want to bring their own device. No one really wants to go out and buy an expensive phone or computer with his or her own money. That’s not what your employees are saying.

What they’re saying is that we want really cool stuff at work.

We want a MacBook Air. We want the latest one with the fastest processor and the most memory. We want it to look awesome, feel good in our hands, and make us amazingly productive. We don’t want to bring our own device. We want you to give us what we want.

For many users, it’s the Air. For some, it’s the latest iPhone or iPad. For me, it’s an Air along with an awesome Galaxy Note 3.

A Better Strategy Than BYOD

I’d suggest you take an alternative approach if you’re still listening to the IT people and accepting their lame arguments. Do the following instead:

• Buy the devices the users want. A maxed-out MacBook Air is under $2,000. It’ll last 24 months. That’s under $100 a month. Isn’t it worth $100 a month to get more productivity?
• Tell the IT people that it’s their job to make things secure and to make things work for the users. If they can’t do it, then you’ve got the wrong IT people.
• Demonstrate to the users that you’re listening to them. Show them that you know they’re your most important asset. You know the devices are being used nearly every minute of every day. Do what the users want.
• Get everyone a MacBook Air!

This debate is silly. Buying your users lame tools is sillier. Failing to spend an extra $100 a month to make productivity gains is silliest. Go buy them an Air.