The Case for BYOD in the Battleground for Business Innovation |
Mobility is quickly becoming one of the most important battlegrounds for business innovation. Mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, and e-readers), in particular have become so portable, powerful, connected and user-friendly that they have penetrated every facet of our personal and professional lives.
Our recent Deloitte study, Devices, Consumption and the Digital Landscape, highlights this trend:
- Nearly 48% of consumers who own tablets report now taking overnight trips where they bring only their tablet, leaving their PCs at home.
- 27% of the US population own tablets and about half (49%) own smartphones
- Nearly two-thirds (64%) of employees who are not currently using a tablet at work wish they could do so
The “consumerization” of mobility has sprung various “bring your own device” (BYOD) approaches, in which employees are allowed to use their own, personally purchased devices for work-related activities.
There are many common business and technology opportunities that can be explored:
- Improving time to market, customer satisfaction levels, and sales
- Improving infrastructure and data security, and reducing risk of incident or loss
- Potentially reduce costs associated with hardware, monthly service fees, provisioning and ongoing support
However, challenges exist for many stakeholders, from the CIO to corporate IT departments. Some critical issues should be considered, including security, support, and cost. For example, a weakly defined BYOD program will placate demanding users, but will not adequately address security and operational issues, such as how to remotely troubleshoot a myriad of devices that the company hasn’t historically supported. With the proliferation of mobile devices, rising expectations of end users and the velocity with which uninvited devices are entering the network, these challenges simply cannot be ignored. IT leaders will need to seize the initiative and start to align business strategy and needs, IT capabilities and user expectations.
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