BYOD is now a term that is as common as RSVP and might have passed up BYOB, who knows for sure? Bring Your Own Device is the rant we have heard in media for 2 or 3 years. It is a wave that can’t be stopped, give the people what they want, resistance is futile, on and on the experts guided us to a sure BYOD nirvana.
Truth is, less than half the firms in a recent CompTIA survey of 400 large firms were undertaking BYOD. OK the numbers were close, 49% were experimenting with BYOD or had implemented some measure of BYOD. But most firms did not venture into BYOD land. The firms holding out are doing so because they feel employees will make poor choices about services, devices and applications. One overpowering message-security is just too big a factor in the whole equation, there is no room for error.
Other firms have not consumed the BYOD kool-aid, or at least took a gulp and spit the rest out, due to hidden costs. Expense reporting, policy administration, mobile device management costs, etc. These higher costs are not offset by more productivity, it has been hard for firms to find meaningful productivity gains.
So that brings us back to nirvana, employees love BYOD right? Employees love the freedom but wait, they want to monitor my personal device and access my data? Just like all freedom, that freedom comes with a high cost. Privacy is paramount on arguably the most private device a person owns.
BTW (by the way) BYOB means bring your own bottle, like to a party you know…a party to celebrate the decline of BYOD.
Steve Schmidt
