Bring your own device or BYOD policy allows employees in an organization to use their personal devices to access enterprise information, which provides flexibility and mobility to individuals. It provides access to emails and other shared drives irrespective of the location of the user.
The policy is gaining popularity among enterprises, and is changing the way users access organizational resources by enabling employees, partners, and guests to connect to the corporate network and perform basic business functions such as accessing corporate emails, calendars, and contacts.
BYOD-related technologies are improving, making it easier for companies to mobilize their workforces. This is leading to pretty strong growth in the Global BYOD Market, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.32 percent from 2014-2019.
Demand for Mobile Virtualization
One trend that is emerging in the BYOD market is demand for mobile virtualization, which enables the deployment of multiple operating systems on a single mobile device.
All computing resources, including mobile devices, have the virtualization layer to enable the use of applications independent of the hardware configuration. This technology enables the simultaneous execution of personal as well as enterprise applications on a mobile device, which will be key for properly executing BYOD services over the projected period.
Emergence of ERP and CRM Applications
Enterprises are starting to explore the full potential of mobile devices, and are increasing the use of these devices for critical enterprise applications such as ERP and CRM, on top of regular functions like email, calendar and messaging. In the near future, enterprise mobility solutions will be used to access advanced applications like unified communication, and supply chain management. This is expected to accelerate the demand for enterprise mobility solutions and positively impact the Global BYOD Market.
Advantages and Disadvantages of BYOD
Even though the market growth rate might point to high uptake of these policies, many organizations are still struggling to balance the pros and cons of BYOD policy.
Advantages
- Cost effectiveness: BYOD offers huge benefit to enterprises in terms of cost as, they do not have to purchase expensive devices for employees. It also reduces costs related to the maintenance of hardware.
- Flexibility: Employees can use the same device for both business and personal purposes. They do not have to carry more than one mobile device, and they can access work-related data at any time and from anywhere, which can lead to improved productivity.
Disadvantages
- High investment for employees: BYOD basically shifts the onus of providing hardware from the company to the employee. While this is great for the organization’s bottom line, it can end up being quite costly for employees, especially as increased use leads to the depreciation of the devices.
- Expenditure on security solutions: Organizations spend a large amount of money on security solutions for employee-owned devices, in order to secure these devices and protect company data. However, BYOD security solutions can be quite costly and could override the cost savings from implementing BYOD in the first place.
