Should Employees Be Allowed to Use Their Own Devices for Work?

You just bought a powerful, state-of-the-art laptop that's better than anything issued to you at the office. So can you use it on the job?

That's a question a growing number of corporate IT departments are wrestling with as employees increasingly demand the right to bring their own smartphones, tablets and other personal-technology gadgets to work with them. The quickening pace of breakthroughs in consumer technology is helping fuel the trend. Accustomed to managing their personal lives with the latest and most-innovative technology tools, people are becoming less patient with the older, clunkier hardware and software they have to use at work. But companies remain hesitant—and with good reason. Issues surrounding security and control can cause big headaches when employees are given the freedom to choose.

Technology consultant John Parkinson makes the case for allowing employees to use their own technology devices at work. Technology writer Erik Sherman explains why companies should resist letting employees use their own devices for work.