BYOD: Companies Encourage Employees to Bring Their Own

Many companies plan to lower costs by encouraging employees to bring their own electronic devices to work. Gartner released a study that predicts the number of workers using mobile apps in the workplace will double by 2015. “BYOD strategies are the most radical change to the economics and the culture of client computing in business in decades,” claims David Willis, VP and analyst at Gartner. “The benefits of BYOD include creating new mobile workforce opportunities, increasing employee satisfaction, and reducing or avoiding costs.”

“Gartner believes that with mass-market adoption of BYOD and the steady decline in carrier fees, employers will gradually reduce subsidies,” reports Computerworld. “And as the number of workers using a mobile device expands, those who receive a subsidy will decline.”

“The enterprise should subsidize only the service plan on a smartphone,” suggests Willis. “What happens if you buy a device for an employee and they leave the job a month later? How are you going to settle up? Better to keep it simple. The employee owns the device, and the company helps to cover usage costs.”

Gartner expects 38 percent of companies to stop providing devices to workers by 2016, and by 2017, half of all employees will be required to supply their own devices to complete their work. This will create a cost-effective workplace, and give employees the chance to share more through cloud-based software.

“Right now, Gartner said, mid-sized companies of $500 million to $5 billion in sales and 2,500 to 5,000 employees are most likely to be using a BYOD approach. BYOD-friendly companies are twice as common in the U.S. as in Europe, but employees in India, China and Brazil are most likely to be using a personal device on the job,” reports AllThingsD.

For additional information, you can access the Gartner press release or order the $195 report, Bring Your Own Device: The Facts and the Future.

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