BYOD: The New Trend in Mobile Business
If you want to reduce your IT costs and satisfy user demands for device choice, BYOD is both attractive and affordable.Under a BYOD plan, employees are expected to ‘bring your own device’ to the office for corporate work. Though the employee pays for the device, the company foots the bill.
With 75% of employees using their own devices at work in high growth markets like Brazil and Russia, BYOD has become the new trend in business.
Types of BYOD Scenarios
Different types of possible scenarios for a BYOD setup are:
- Employees pick the device and the organization pays a stipend: The devices are managed by the organization, access corporate data, and are connected to a local area network (LAN). It actually means that the employees need to bring their own devices.
- Report outgoing data – All the devices which are used in an organization are connected to the LAN, and hence they raise an alarm when corporate data are sent or transferred
- Own device, corporate data and personal network: The devices are owned and managed by the company and even access the company’s network. These devices are mostly phones and the best approach to deal with them is through cloud-based identity management for each device.
- Permitting access: Here, the device and the network usage are paid for completely by the employee. However, the employee is granted access to the company’s mobile network anytime they want to use the information.
- Completely user-owned: This is an exceptional case. Nothing, even the data network, is owned by the company. It is cheaper for the business, but external users could access the data network, diluting quality communication and possibly spreading false information.
Business Way to life
BYOD is like a small symptom of a bigger evolution in the U.S.
- 95.2% of the education industry is already uses BYOD
- Legal service firms use BYOD 78.6% of the time
- 77.1% of retailers and wholesalers implement BYOD
- Banks use BYOD 70% of the time
- A company looks like a flexible and attractive employer
- Employees are more productive
- 44% of job seekers worldwide find an organization interesting and positive if it owns their devices
- It improves usability and connectivity of the corporate network
- Companies benefit from the efficiency that BYOD accessibility creates
- It is the least resource-intensive way to secure data
- It will prevents unauthorized copies of data from floating around
- Increased life-span of devices since employees use their devices with greater care
- Security of the corporate information is always at stake; sensitive data could be leaked or stolen
- Employees often do not sufficiently trust the IT department to have access to their personal devices
- Devices brought to work are also used for personal reasons and the company reimburses the bill
Cost: A Controversy
The argument over cost savings comes to a head when considering BYOD:
- It helps save money, as the company doesn’t have to pay for the mobile devices.
- Because the company spends a lot supporting all the devices, it can actually increase expenses, depending on the amount of support required.
- In reality, the cost of devices isn’t saved, it’s just shifted to employees and they are provided a stipend for the purchase. The company loses volume discounts by not buying in bulk and paying to individuals.
- The company also has to spend a lot on upgrading networking structure and technology management.
- BYOD also raises a question regarding who owns the device, especially when a stipend is provided to cover part or most of the cost.
The Ugly Truth: BYOD’s Dirty Little Secret
Even though BYOD has established itself as the next big thing in IT, it has a dirty little secret.
Though BYOD motivates employees to work harder and even put in some effort outside of the office, they’re still tempted to cheat. They’ll sign up for the biggest data plan, knowing the company will foot the bill, and take a high stipend so they can have the latest and best device, even if they don’t need it.
But, ultimately, we think the starting point should be the same regardless of who’s paying for the devices and the ideal approach should focus on securing the information regardless of who technically owns it. What do you think?
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