Bring Your Own Device, is a key alternative strategy for corporates: Gartner

28th August 2012
Bring Your Own Device,  is a  key alternative strategy for corporates: Gartner

Mumbai, August 28, 2012 — We make no apologies for returning to the subject of BYOD. The rise of bring your own device (BYOD) programs is the single most radical shift in the economics of client computing for business since PCs invaded the workplace, finds a new Gartner study. Every business needs a clearly articulated position on BYOD, even if it chooses not to allow for it, is Gartner’s sugestion.
BYOD is an alternative strategy that allows employees, business partners and other users to use personally selected and purchased client devices to execute enterprise applications and access data. For most organizations, the program is currently limited to smartphones and tablets, but the strategy may also be used for PCs and may include subsidies for equipment or service fees.
We believe this is important for Indian enterprises because as we reported earlier, two independent studies by British Telecom and Cisco both said India was next only to China in the numbers of employees who say they are encouraged to bring their own computing/connecting devices to the office – to do office work.

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India, a leader in global trend of 'Bring Your Own Device' to work
 
http://indiatechonline.com/boyd-trend-769.php  .
BYOD in SAP Labs India:
 http://indiatechonline.com/special-feature.php?id=138  
2012: Year of BYOD: Brocade http://indiatechonline.com/special-feature.php?id=119  
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"With the wide range of capabilities brought by mobile devices, and the myriad ways in which business processes are being reinvented as a result, we are entering a time of tremendous change," says David Willis, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. "The market for mobile devices is booming and the basic device used in business compared to those used by consumers is converging. Simultaneously, advances in network performance allow the personal device to be married to powerful software that resides in the cloud."

An organization may better keep up with mobile technology advancements by aligning to the consumer, rather than the much slower pace of business technology adoption, with its long cycle of detailed requirements analysis, established refresh rates, and centralized procurement heritage. Consumers also enjoy equipment and domestic service pricing that often matches the best deals that an enterprise can get on behalf of its users.
In a BYOD approach, users are permitted certain access rights to enterprise applications and information on personally owned devices, subject to user acceptance of enterprise security and management policies. The device is selected and purchased by the user, although IT may provide a list of acceptable devices for the user to purchase. In turn, IT provides partial or full support for device access, applications and data. The organization may provide full, partial or no reimbursement for the device or service plan.
"Just as we saw with home broadband in the past decade, the expectation that the company will supply full reimbursement for equipment and services will decline over time, and we will see the typical employer favor reimbursing only a portion of the monthly bill," adds Willis. "We also expect that as adoption grows and prices decline employers will reduce the amount they reimburse."

Gartner believes that IT's best strategy to deal with the rise of BYOD is to address it with a combination of policy, software, infrastructure controls and education in the near term; and with application management and appropriate cloud services in the longer term. Policies must be built in conjunction with legal and HR departments for the tax, labor, corporate liability and employee privacy implications. Gartner recommends that companies start with a standard policy that would apply anywhere, and create customized versions by country if necessary.

BYOD is not for every company, or every employee. There will be wide variances in BYOD adoption across the world — by geography, industry and corporate culture. Most programs are at the employee's discretion — they decide if they want to opt in. For the vast majority of companies it is not possible to force all users into a bring your own (BYO) program without substantial financial investments — and considerable support from senior management.

Gartner believes that we are likely to see highly successful BYOD programs in the coming years. Many businesses will expand beyond smartphones and tablets and embrace BYO for personal computers. Beyond PCs, it is likely that users will discover new uses for emerging devices not initially understood by IT planners, much like we saw with the iPad.

"It won't stop with bring your own PC," says Willis. "Bring your own IT is on the horizon. Once these new devices are in the mix, employees will be bringing their own applications, collaboration systems, and even social networks into businesses."

Points from Gartner study
Why Is BYOD Happening Now? There are many reasons for this sudden shift toward BYOD. The market for mobile devices is booming and has hit the mainstream. The basic commodity endpoint device used in business versus those used by consumers is converging. In the mid-1990s, a device used in business looked very different from a device used by a consumer, but that is not true today. In fact, the computing power in a mainstream consumer smartphone or tablet is more than sufficient for the needs of a business user, often far exceeding what is needed. Simultaneously, advances in network performance allow the personal device to be married to powerful software that resides in the cloud.
A New Contract
In a BYOD approach, users are permitted certain access rights to enterprise applications and information on personally owned devices, subject to user acceptance of enterprise security and management policies. The device is selected and purchased by the user, although IT may provide a list of acceptable devices for the user to purchase. In turn, IT provides partial or full support for device access, applications and data: In each case, support may be limited. The organization may provide full, partial or no reimbursement for the device or service plan.
BYOD Programs Can Reduce Cost, but They Typically Do Not.
With the wide range of capabilities brought by mobile devices and the myriad ways in which business processes are being reinvented as a result, we are entering a time of tremendous change.
There are instances where current-state mobility costs can be cut, such as in the common case of replacing an existing BlackBerry device that provides mobile email and calendaring. To take an example, moving a 500-person mobile workforce running corporate-supplied BlackBerry devices at a cost of $90 per month to personally owned devices results in a 29% reduction in hard costs, using a standard $50-per-month reimbursement rate, while investing roughly $360 per user in new infrastructure, software and support

But as businesses look to drive ever more capability to the mobile device, the costs of software, infrastructure, personnel support and related services will increase over time. Once we start including file sharing, business applications and collaboration tools, the costs to provide mobile services go up dramatically.
Link to Gartner study http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?doc_cd=238131&ref=g_noreg  

Analysts will examine key issues for BYOD at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, to be held October 10-12, in Goa, India: www.gartner.com/in/symposium