byod ovum paper: solving the hidden network challenge of byod

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Solving the

hidden

network

challenge of

BYOD

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Solving the hidden network challenge of BYOD Published 06/2013

© Ovum. This White Paper is a licensed product and is not to be photocopied

Written by: Adrian Drury Published 2013 © Ovum

Introduction

BYOD is a global phenomenon that is bigger than any one market or industry. At its heart is the disruptive

growth of smartphone – and more recently – tablet ownership. The smartphone and its app ecosystem are

changing how individuals live and work. The smartphone is at heart of the identity of the individual in the

modern connected world and as such these devices are being brought into the workplace in massive

volume. And naturally end users are trying to use them for work and to access corporate data.

While BYOD and the wider aspects of consumerisation cause real problems for IT, consumerised behaviours

can create real value for businesses if harnessed properly. Ovum’s research consistently demonstrates that

employees value the flexibility that consumerisation gives them. It makes them more agile and engaged,

improves employee satisfaction, and companies get access to employees outside traditional working hours.

However, as a greater volume of devices hit the corporate network this is creating a bandwidth and access

challenge. Smart CIOs are working to ensure that they have a network that has the capacity to provide a

good user experience on every mobile device accessing it, and using network access controls (NAC) to

ensure this is being done within the parameters of minimum network security requirements and prioritising

traffic to deliver enterprise network Quality of Service. Ultimately an integrated approach to device,

application and network policy management will enable the CIO to deliver a flexible BYOD employee

experience that “just works”, creating a more productive and agile organisation.

Key messages

• The BYOD phenomenon is being driven by the continued growth in smartphone and tablet

ownership and the role that mobile web services have in the daily lives of employees. This trend is

bigger than any one industry or geographic market and it will continue to grow.




• There are soft and hard benefits to implementing the right BYOD strategy for your business, but the

true value of a BYOD program is improved employee engagement and productivity. In Ovum’s

BYOD multi-market survey 2013, 62.2% of employees stated that having access to corporate data

outside working hours makes them more productive.

• BYOD is, however, bringing a herd of new smartphone and tablet devices onto enterprise networks.

These are bandwidth hungry, and will get hungrier, with average smartphone mobile data usage

forecast to rise 17X in Western Europe by 2017. Enterprises must provide enough coverage and

capacity not only for traffic demands today but also to allow head room for growth. Why is it

important for IT to deliver a good network experience for BYOD users? At its heart, a BYOD strategy

is about providing a good experience for employees that just enables them to be more productive.

Network performance is a core aspect of that experience.

• Personal application usage will happen on personally owned devices on corporate networks – but

this will also happen on corporately provisioned devices. IT should not block access to personal

application classes, however they should be looking to monitor, manage and prioritise traffic. This

will become increasing importantly as mission critical, multi-screen file sync and share, enterprise

social networking and video collaboration applications demand an increased share of capacity.

• Providing employees with the flexibility to use their own device should not mean sacrificing security.

Businesses must maintain minimum-security levels for devices accessing the corporate network.

• A good BYOD experience for employees is defined by simplicity. An integrated approach to BYOD

policy management across device, application and network has the potential to enable CIOs to

manage the policy complexity of BYOD and hence deliver a more consistent, simple experience to

the employee.




The scale of BYOD

BYOD has become an acronym that hides an unignorable truth of today’s technology markets. The smart

mobile device – specifically the smartphone – is increasingly an embedded aspect of daily life. People across

all socio-economic groups and markets are using smartphones and mobile applications (whether native or

browser delivered) in their personal and their work lives.

The underlying driver for this phenomenon is of course the rapid growth and raw scale of the smartphone

market. As Google, Samsung, Apple, BlackBerry and Microsoft arm a growing proportion of the world’s

population with smartphone devices it is changing the way that businesses engage with their customers –

and their employees. This is a phenomenon that no business can stand in the way of.

BYOD is an international phenomenon: CIOs need to consider its effects in all operational

markets

According to Ovum’s 2013 BYOD survey, a global average of 56.8% of full-time employees use a personal

smartphone or tablet to access corporate data – whether their employer has a policy in place governing such

behavior or not. The percentage differs from country to country (but has stayed consistent over 2012), and

employees in high-growth markets are most likely to use a personally owned device, but this is an

international trend. BYOD is bigger than any one geographic market, and it is emphatically not just a North

American and European market phenomenon.

The higher rate of BYOD in high-growth markets is driven as much by cultural differences as by the

availability of corporate-provided devices. That is, employees in these markets have less difficulty balancing

work and personal lives, and show a higher preference to use a single phone for both work and personal

purposes. While it is an issue for every business, regardless of location, BYOD is potentially harder for

multinationals to manage as they will have to adapt to local regulations and cultural drivers in every country

in which they operate, particularly in the high-growth markets that offer the best opportunities for business

expansion.

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Solving the hidden network challenge of BYOD


Figure 1: Percentage of employees who BYOD by country, regardless of employer policy

Source: Ovum multi-market BYOD survey, N 2012 = 4038, N 2013 = 4371

BYOD affects all industries

The BYOD trend is widespread across all vertical industries, and is more evenly spread than the geographic

variance. The argument that some industries are immune to BYOD

market” is simply not supported by the data.

Across markets, there is very little variance from the mean rate of BYOD (56.8%). IT and telecoms

professionals and those working in financial services and entertainment are most likely to BYOD in 2013,

while at the lowest end of the scale 44.6% of employees worki

work.

Certainly, BYOD presents greater governance and compliance challenges to regulated industries such as

financial services, but that does not make

own devices in the workplace. Consumer mobility i

vertical market.

Solving the hidden network challenge of BYOD Publish



N 2012 = 4038, N 2013 = 4371

trend is widespread across all vertical industries, and is more evenly spread than the geographic

The argument that some industries are immune to BYOD behaviour and that “it won’t happen in my

mply not supported by the data.

arkets, there is very little variance from the mean rate of BYOD (56.8%). IT and telecoms


while at the lowest end of the scale 44.6% of employees working in the public sector use their own device for


ices, but that does not make employees in these industries immune to the desire to us

own devices in the workplace. Consumer mobility in the workplace is a trend that is larger

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trend is widespread across all vertical industries, and is more evenly spread than the geographic

behaviour and that “it won’t happen in my

arkets, there is very little variance from the mean rate of BYOD (56.8%). IT and telecoms


ng in the public sector use their own device for


immune to the desire to use their

n the workplace is a trend that is larger than any one

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Figure 2: Percentage of employees who BYOD by vertical, regardless of employer policy


Technology-aware job roles show a high predisposition to BYOD, but we see incidence in all job roles

The familiar story about the beginnings of BYOD practice in many businesses is that of

their latest toy, such as an iPad, into the office and demanding to be able to use it. While this story is backed

up by the data, with executive managers most likely to bring their own device to work, it is also clear that

BYOD behavior is prevalent across all parts of an organisation.

There is more variance by job role than industry, with

functions showing a higher predisposition to BYOD

perhaps as a result of organisations reacting to the trend and providing early adopting roles (e.g.

procurement, marketing, legal) with the devices they need

sales, customer service) have further taken up the tren

particularly for those in finance, legal and HR roles

between job roles illustrates the challenge for the enterprise in

as one size does not necessarily fit all.




N 2012 = 4038, N 2013 = 4371

aware job roles show a high predisposition to BYOD, but we see incidence in all job roles

The familiar story about the beginnings of BYOD practice in many businesses is that of



prevalent across all parts of an organisation.

than industry, with early adopters and those in technology

redisposition to BYOD behaviours. Variation also grew in the 2013 survey,

s as a result of organisations reacting to the trend and providing early adopting roles (e.g.

procurement, marketing, legal) with the devices they need – while those in other roles have also (e.g. IT,

sales, customer service) have further taken up the trend. However, the variance is lower than expected,

n finance, legal and HR roles for which data security is paramount.

challenge for the enterprise in defining a BYOD policy for its emplo

fit all.

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aware job roles show a high predisposition to BYOD, but we see incidence in all job roles

The familiar story about the beginnings of BYOD practice in many businesses is that of the CEO bringing



early adopters and those in technology-aware

. Variation also grew in the 2013 survey,

s as a result of organisations reacting to the trend and providing early adopting roles (e.g.

while those in other roles have also (e.g. IT,

variance is lower than expected,

for which data security is paramount. The variance

OD policy for its employee base,

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Figure 3: Percentage of employees who BYOD by job role, regardless of employer policy


The value of BYOD programs: greater

and productivity

BYOD programs have a range of hard and soft benefits for businesses. The hard benefits are that it removes

the cost of keeping up with a shortening smartphone and tablet replacement cycle, employees are more

likely to look after their own devices, hence reducing repair and replacement costs. Also if a support contract

with a 3rd

party supplier is mandated as part of a BYOD program it can reduce support costs, although this

has to be off-set against the admin overhead f

operating systems and policy variations.




N 2012 = 4038, N 2013 = 4371

The value of BYOD programs: greater employee satisfaction



look after their own devices, hence reducing repair and replacement costs. Also if a support contract


set against the admin overhead for an IT service desk of supporting a greater range of devices,

operating systems and policy variations.

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employee satisfaction



look after their own devices, hence reducing repair and replacement costs. Also if a support contract


or an IT service desk of supporting a greater range of devices,




However the real value from a BYOD policy is the increase in employee productivity and satisfaction. Ovum’s

2013 BYOD survey finds that for full time employees, 62.2% find that having access to corporate data

outside working hours makes them more productive.

BYOD policies create a more engaged, more empowered workforce and in return get employees who are

more flexible in how and when they work, and are more productive. Of course businesses need to ensure

that BYOD happens securely, and have the ability to manage sensitive corporate data on employee owned

devices, but there are a range of Mobile Device Management and Mobile Application Management solutions

available that equip the IT department with the ability to manage BYOD at the device and/or the application

level. The supply side of the market is making it increasingly simple to put a BYOD program in place without

contravening the data governance requirements of any one company or industry, although Ovum accepts

that consumer data privacy legislation does create an additional layer of complexity in markets such as

Germany.

Taming the herd of new devices appearing on corporate

networks

The BYOD phenomenon, whether businesses like it or not, is bringing a wave of new devices onto corporate

networks. According to Ovum’s BYOD survey, 67.8% of full time employees who have smartphones will not

only be bringing their own smartphone into the workplace but using it to access corporate data, whether or

not their IT department is aware of it.

That number rises for full time employees with tablets. Ovum’s study found that 69.7% of full time

employees, who are also tablet owners, have used this device for work.

Crucially we do see in the data that certain job roles have a higher pre-disposition to wanting to use their own

device for work (if they own the specific device). For example, unsurprisingly if we look at patterns in

personally owned tablet usage we see that senior management that own tablets shows the highest

predisposition to use it for work, followed by marketing, procurement and IT itself.

This influx of new devices creates three key challenges for the enterprise network – WiFi coverage and

capacity, traffic prioritisation and security.




A fast corporate WiFi network is a vital foundation for a successful BYOD policy and a good

employee experience

Employee owned smartphones and tablets are increasing the number of devices demanding access to

corporate networks. These new screens are not substitutional for a corporately provided PC or Blackberry,

they are complementary – part of the new multi-screening, multi-tasking behaviors that we are seeing in

enterprises across all industries, particularly from knowledge workers.

This situation is fundamentally different to the device landscape in the enterprise before the smartphone

began to stretch beyond the first early adopters and into the mass market. Before the smartphone became

an embedded part of modern daily life, employees could bring a mobile phone into the work place – but, if

this was used for work, it would only be used to send SMS or make calls and hence connect only to a wide

area cellular network. A small number of enthusiast employees or consultants would be using their own PC,

but this niche, early adopter audience were happy to be served by 3G modems or guest WiFi networks

where they were available.

Now smartphones and tablets are being used for data intensive applications and need a strong, reliable data

connection. End users are being educated by mobile operators to look for WiFi networks to connect to,

avoiding hitting their bandwidth caps.

Why should corporate IT care? If a business is implementing a BYOD policy it will – rightly – be not just on

the basis of a total cost of ownership calculation but also on the basis of improved employee satisfaction in

the workplace, an encouragement of employees to use their own device securely for enterprise applications

and processes and the drive to access more of the employee day. Delivering this level of employee

satisfaction means delivering a great end user experience and this includes providing them with the raw

bandwidth and coverage to be able to use their devices in the workplace.

Smart devices are bandwidth hungry - and getting hungrier!

Tablets and smartphones are bandwidth hungry. According to the latest updates to the Visual Networking

Index from Cisco, the average smartphone in Western Europe in 2012 generated 246MB per month and is

forecasted to rise 17X to 4,167MB per month by 2017. By comparison, the same analysis shows that that the

average tablet used 771MB per month in 2012, and is forecasted to rise 8X to 6,521MB by 2017.




To put this in the context of PC use today, the average laptop in Western Europe in 2012 used 3,812MB MB

and is forecast to rise 8.5X to 13,577MB per month by 2017.

Smartphones, tablets and PCs are dependent on local area networks to varying degrees, with a far greater

proportion of data being transported over the mobile carrier network for smartphones than for the other two

device classes. But the trend is clear. The growing number of devices on the corporate network demands an

increase in the bandwidth available today, and over time that bandwidth demand is only going to rise: driven

by the continued increase of smartphone and tablet penetration, and the increased bandwidth demand per

device. Businesses that grasp the bandwidth need today would be wise to give this bandwidth demand

headroom for growth.

Personal vs. enterprise application usage & the need for

traffic management

Personal devices used in the workplace will also be used for personal applications. This is inevitable in a

market where applications – whether email, e-commerce, transport or social networks – are such an

ingrained aspect of employees’ daily lives.

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Figure 4: Daily usage profile of personal applications on

for full time employees

Source: Ovum multi-market BYOD survey, 2012, N = 3,331 (of a total of 4,038)

Should companies tolerate usage of personally owned devices on enterprise networks for personal

applications? Companies should be looking to create environments that focus on engaging and motivating

employees, and that includes supporting access to persona

relationship with the employee, but if an employee is abusing this trust and spending all their time in the

workplace on e-commerce sites or social networks, this is will be more effectively signaled and ma

the level of their overall performance.

However, while businesses should not be looking to block access to personal web services, they should be

looking to prioritise traffic for applications that are mission critical or for which latency means a

reduction in quality of service.



Figure 4: Daily usage profile of personal applications on personally owned

market BYOD survey, 2012, N = 3,331 (of a total of 4,038)



employees, and that includes supporting access to personal applications. This attitude is built on a trust


commerce sites or social networks, this is will be more effectively signaled and ma

the level of their overall performance.


looking to prioritise traffic for applications that are mission critical or for which latency means a

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personally owned smartphones



l applications. This attitude is built on a trust


commerce sites or social networks, this is will be more effectively signaled and managed at


looking to prioritise traffic for applications that are mission critical or for which latency means a severe




Network performance monitoring and management tools can give enterprises strong visibility applications

that are consuming bandwidth by combing IP address, port and protocol analysis. This enables enterprise

network Quality of Service to be enforced by ensuring the right traffic gets prioritised on the network.

Enterprise mobile application usage will drive the need for enterprise network traffic

management

There is an inherent relationship between the growing use of multiple screens in the enterprise and demand

for bandwidth. As employees use multiple screens dependent on the specific task or context of the individual

they expect their content and applications to be available to them on any screen at any time. BYOD today is

hence a key driver for file sync and share applications and services.

Moving files between screens over wireless networks is increasing the bandwidth overhead for enterprise

networks today. Future applications that are set to drive bandwidth demands for enterprise networks will be

voice and video communications integrated with collaboration and enterprise social networking platforms.

This will further drive the need for traffic prioritisation capability on enterprise networks.

This demands that IT realise that the corporate WLAN is now a mission critical business network, and as

important as the wired network. The corporate WLAN must include traffic prioritisation, high availability, high

bandwidth performance and, given the usage profile of smartphones, seamless roaming.

The role of 802.11ac

The next generation WiFi standard, 802.11ac, will help enterprises manage the traffic overhead from the

growth in the number of personally owned and corporately provisioned smart devices on the corporate

network. 802.11ac brings wider RF bandwidth, more Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO)

streams and enhanced frequency modulation. This boosts the maximum throughput for 802.11ac to a

theoretical maximum of near 1Gb/s.

Already the first smartphones such as the HTC One are coming to market with 802.11ac chipsets. As this

number grows, the additional capacity of 802.11ac will help businesses manage the increased WLAN data

demand from smart devices.




Network security & BYOD: creating a secure but welcoming

perimeter

Providing employees the flexibility to use their own device should not mean sacrificing security. Mobile

Device Management and Mobile Application Management are providing enterprises the ability to manage

employee-owned devices, and enterprise data on employee owned devices, but businesses must maintain

appropriate minimum-security levels for devices accessing the corporate network.

Businesses must also be aware of new attack vectors created by new devices with new capabilities

accessing corporate networks. For example, devices with ad hoc WLAN or Bluetooth tethering may allow

otherwise non-authenticated devices onto a network.

Hence is vital that IT has the ability to enforce security requirements for devices accessing enterprise

networks even if they are owned by the employee. However it must be made clear to end user what they

must do to their device if access is denied, and if the remedy cannot be applied automatically. Network

security cannot be compromised, but the impact on end user experience should be minimised.

Guest access networks: extending a BYOD strategy to

enable guest access

Implementing Network Access Control for BYOD has the additional benefit of creating Guest Access

capability on the enterprise network. Just as employees are bringing a greater range of smart devices into

corporate offices, so are suppliers and customers and they are just as hungry for bandwidth. Corporate

offices have become major locations for WiFi hotspots.

The management requirements for guest users are the same as BYOD users. Guests need to be

provisioned simply on the network, but minimum device security needs to be enforced. Access also ideally

needs to be restricted to known guests and this can be enabled by authorising only certain employees to

extend guest access, with this policy administered centrally.




Taking an integrated approach to device and network access

& policy management

Practically, what does BYOD really mean for IT? It means policy management complexity. Opening the gates

for personally owned devices to be used to access enterprise data and networks creates a range of new

permutations and combinations of policies to be enforced. Role-based policies add another dimension of

complexity to the problem.

A centralised consistent approach, where device, application and network access policy can be defined,

monitored and enforced in an integrated system promises to alleviate some of the complexity. Today Ovum

is seeing specialist Mobile Device Management and Network Access Control vendors integrate their

functionality to deliver this combined capability, and next generation identity service management tools have

been enhanced to deliver a single point of policy across the organisation, whether access is via wired,

wireless or via VPN.

An integrated approach to policy management is a foundation for simplicity and a good employee

experience

A good BYOD experience for employees is defined by simplicity. Employees want a solution that enables

them to access their corporate applications and corporate network that “just works”, regardless of whether

they are accessing these via wired, wireless or via VPN. Of course for IT this creates the need for some

careful policy management in the background. However, if IT arms itself with the ability to manage policy in

an integrated way across device, application and network, it increases the probability that a simple,

consistent employee experience will be the outcome and the productivity benefits of BYOD can be realised.




Summary

• BYOD – aka device consumerisation - is a phenomenon that is bigger than any one industry or

geographic market driven by the growth in personal smartphone and tablet ownership.

• There are soft and hard benefits to implementing the right BYOD strategy for your business, but the

true value of a BYOD program is improved employee engagement and productivity.

• BYOD is however bringing a herd of new smartphone and tablet devices on enterprise networks. At

its heart, a BYOD strategy is about providing a good experience for employees that just enables

them to be more productive. Network performance is a core aspect of that experience and these

new set of devices demand connectivity.

• Personal application usage will happen on personally owned devices on corporate networks – but

this will also happen on corporately provisioned devices. IT should not block access to personal

application classes, however they should be looking to monitor, manage and prioritise traffic.

• Providing employees the flexibility to use their own device does not mean sacrificing security.

Businesses must maintain minimum-security levels for devices accessing the corporate network.

• A good BYOD experience for employees is defined by simplicity. An integrated approach to BYOD

policy management across device, application and network has the potential to enable CIOs to

manage the policy complexity of BYOD and hence deliver a more consistent, simple experience to

the employee.




APPENDIX

Methodology

• Primary research of 4,038 full time employees across 14 international markets and 20 industries in

2012; 4,371 full time employees across 14 international markets and 20 industries in 2013

• Interviews with enterprises with active BYOD programs

• On-going discussions with Mobile Device Management, Application Management and Security

vendors

Author

Adrian Drury, Practice Leader, Consumer Impact Technology - [email protected]

Ovum Consulting

We hope that this analysis will help you make informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have

further requirements, Ovum’s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Ovum’s

consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at [email protected].

Disclaimer

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any

means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the

publisher, Ovum (an Informa business).

The facts of this report are believed to be correct at the time of publication but cannot be guaranteed. Please

note that the findings, conclusions, and recommendations that Ovum delivers will be based on information

gathered in good faith from both primary and secondary sources, whose accuracy we are not always in a

position to guarantee. As such Ovum can accept no liability whatever for actions taken based on any

information that may subsequently prove to be incorrect.

byod ovum paper: solving the hidden network challenge of byod

Technology

scale of byod byod

byod phenomenon

byod users

byod program

good byod experience

good network experience

smartphone devices

byod policy management