For those of you in a dealership: Does your service department you require your techs to provide their own laptop (or otherwise) computers or is that, in your opinion, the responsibility of the dealership? I mean, the sales and parts departments are all provided by the dealership AND they don't have the added expense of having to purchase hand tools. Or is the computer another "tool" that is the responsibility of the tech? What say ye?
Dealer provide because of the program involved such as the quoting and finance crap. All part of a system which tracks leads.
If it's for the OEM software and diagnosis tools the dealer should provide it. Not necessarily one for every tech, but at least one for the service department IMO.
We've found it most beneficial for each bay to have it's own computer...that way each tech can update his/her own service tickets, look up service/assembly manuals, diagnostic software, etc. I'm just wondering if asking entry-level guys to procure their own computer (or schlep their home laptop back and forth each day) is reasonable. But I'm kinda getting the vibe that a laptop on your toolbox is becoming just another tool that you need to have. As well, a shop-owned computer will probably lead a much harder life than one privately owned. I guess I'm spoiled as the last two shops I've been at have provided (and maintained) the computers.
I got my dealership to provide me with my own laptop and MVCI. Off limits to the other techs since they refuse to use and maintain it properly. Others got their own because they want to play music videos, etc. (The BBS is blocked on mine,)
We have a couple of pc terminals to run ADP, the scan tools are tough books, and Porsche now requires Ipads for technical training so everyone in the dealer got an iPad on the companies dime. If it's not a "requirement" I wouldn't expect the dealer ro buy me anything. That would be like them buying me a wrench just cause I wanted it.. I agree with Jim though, there has to be some sort of device available for each tech at any given time so they can do their portion of their job title. We don't have that issue, we have 4 techs, 4 tough book poprietary scan tools, 4 Ipads and 2 PC's. More than enough for people not to get held up. Also I've found that when people bring in their own devices they tend to play around and not work as much, since we have more than enough we actually don't allow personal computers there since it isn't necessary (phones not included)
If your techs bring in personal computers, and connect them to your network (wireless or wired) any lack of IT safety/security on their part will result in your network and other computers being infected/owned. Better to supply the machines, and lock them down with security software, etc. so that they don't damage your business.
BYOD (bring your own device) is a two-edged sword. No capital cost by the business, but as beac83 points out, it can leave the network vulnerable.
We provide then at our shop. We only have 5 techs so we have 2 (tech) computers and then the manager computer and writer computer. The manufacturer shit stays on our computers and has new updates anyways so if any tech quit and took his computer he couldn't do side work anyways.
We have a hardware firewall (I talk about this like I know something...) that the boss purports to be pretty good at blocking most crap. All the software requires hardware, so no chance of guys doing side work...and I know all my techs pretty well and that's not something they'd do anyhow. Plus, once an employee leaves, their OEM login permissions are disallowed. I suppose one could possibly buy the interface box online if one were so inclined. Anyhow, thanks for all the input.
If a tech brings in a computer which has a malware infection picked up elsewhere (home, starbucks, etc.), your hardware firewall won't help or protect you once he plugs into your network on the "safe" side of the firewall.
