Choose Your Own Device ‘To Replace Bring Your Own Device’

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Bring your own device – or BYOD – has been a familiar element of the changing way in which businesses and their employees communicate, store and use data.

The theory behind it was that the move would enable workers to carry out data on their own equipment, from smartphones to memory sticks, increasing their mobility. However, the benefits appear to have been limited, according to IDC.

Presenting the company's predictions for the Asia-Pacific region in 2014, IDC head of telecoms and mobility Charles Anderson said: "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but one thing is that BYOD doesn't have a great [return on investment] ROI, there isn't one," ZDNet reports.

One of the the predictions IDC makes for 2014 is that BYOD is on its way out and will soon be replaced by choose your own device – or CYOD – a situation in which a company will provide staff with a range of equipment options and the employees will choose the items they believe will help them carry out their work most effectively.

Attacking the notion that BYOD was contributing anything extra, Mr Anderson remarked: "These people are going to bring their devices into the enterprise and what are they going to do with them? You give them access to email, but they're already at work, so they probably have access to email already." He also noted there were extra costs associated with enabling BYOD users, including security.

This latter issue is a major concern. BYOD means people will take their devices out of the office with them and these can potentially be lost in travel, in a home break-in, or during leisure time. Apart from the fact this means there is a wide array of people into whose hands such devices may fall, there is also the difficulty in knowing where such a device has been lost in the first place.

Of course, that will be true of any mobile and the same will apply with CYOD. However, in the latter case, the company issuing the device can at least be sure the device has been equipped with the necessary security – such as encryption – before it is used.

Discussing security, Mr Anderson said using a more limited range of devices in CYOD would make it easier for IT managers to arrange this, while other benefits would include greater compatibility of different devices between which data may pass.

He cited SAP as one company that had considered the dangers of poor security and potential data loss as a reason for choosing the implementation of CYOD instead of BYOD. It's response was to introduce a limited range of smartphones, phablets and tablets they could pick from.

"So what they want to do is mobilise the person and process in one step. They also have this challenge; they don't want to push this device on everybody, people have preferences, form factors, operating systems, and they're really opening up and allowing them to use them. It's taking off and last I heard they're managing 70,000 devices under this," Mr Anderson noted.

However, the IDC predictions are at odds with expectations elsewhere in the technology sector. Gartner has just published a report called BYOD Is an Applications Strategy, Not Just a Purchasing Policy, in which it argues that IT departments have long since lost control of what devices their partners will use, as these extend beyond staff to suppliers, customers and stakeholders outside the company.

Research director at Gartner Darryl Carlton argued that BYOD is an "indicator" that the internal IT systems of companies are not able to meet the needs of all users connected with a firm and that this will drive the need for external devices.

He added:"It's important to recognise that BYOD, bring your own application and cloud adoption are leading indicators of long-term structural change occurring in the industry, not the demands of a few errant staff demanding their favorite brand of technology."

So, while some are predicting the end of BYOD, others regard its continued adoption as an unstoppable force. However, if BYOD is to continue to be treated as a solution to the needs of users, ensuring adequate security will remain a key priority, so the advantages of such mobility and flexibility are not undermined by the loss of vital information.

Storetec News/Blogs."http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/choose-your-own-device-to-replace-bring-your-own-device/". Choose

your own device 'to replace bring your own device'. November 27, 2013. Storetec.