Twice as many employees will use BYOD by 2018, predict analysts

By 2018, there will twice as many bring-your-own devices (BYOD) used at work than employer-owned laptops. However, when designing BYOD programmes, employers need to ensure that they target users who have interest and propensity to use a wider choice of devices for work and feel relatively at easy with technology. According to Gartner, throughout 2017, 90 per cent of organisations will support some aspect of BYOD, and predicts that by 2018 there will be twice as many employee-owned devices used for work than enterprise-owned devices. The analysts says this is because tablets (BYOD) offer better opportunities than that of enterprise owned-laptops and smartphones, as IT departments can support nearly three times more users in tablet BYOD programs than enterprise-owned devices. BYO smartphone programmes have a total cost of ownership that is very similar to those of enterprise-owned smartphones, but will only deliver savings when the organisation is in a position to pay partial, or do not reimburse or subsidise for voice and data plans.

For a BYOD policy to succeed an employer must select a primary goal – user satisfaction, cost reduction or mobile expansion; as in most cases, multiple goals will be unachievable or will conflict with each other. Organisations that allow users to bring their own devices to work will also have to redefine the boundaries of IT’s responsibility for devices support. Users will also have to accept responsibility for handling a higher number of support issues related with their own device.

“IT leaders can spend half a million dollars to buy and support 1,000 enterprise-owned tablets, while they can support 2,745 user-owned tablets with that same budget.” said Federica Troni, research director at Gartner.

“A balanced mix of enterprise-owned and user-owned devices with different levels of stipends will be the most effective way of capitalizing the benefits of BYOD programs, both in terms of cost reduction and in terms of level of access to mobile technology,”

Gartner analysts discussed the economics of BYOD during the annual Gartner Symposium/ITxpo which took place this week.