“Keep taking the tablets,” says latest Forrester research

A new global survey from Forrester Research has found that three-quarters of a billion tablets will be in use by 2016, with about one-third of tablets acquired by businesses for employees. This means 500 million individuals buying tablets themselves, and inevitably, bringing them to, and using them for, work.

With users now expecting to access everything from everywhere, businesses must plan ahead and ensure they are taking the most secure and cost effective approach and maximising the potential benefits to the organisation.

One fact is clear, the shift to people bringing their own devices to work is underway and there is little organisations can do to prevent it. It’s better to adapt current processes and policies and embrace the trend.

Problems For Businesses
Failure to acknowledge and plan for BYOD can result in a number of issues across the organisation. Problems such as poor data security, leakage of intellectual property, privacy of personal vs corporate data, network capacity and an overloaded IT support team to name a few.

Fully embracing BYOD and building a strong set of processes is a “whole of organisation” initiative involving IT, HR, Legal and Finance. Involvement of all the key stakeholders from the beginning is a key success factor.

Forrester also found that 82% of firms expect to support tablets for employees, but also acknowledged that managing the transition between traditional corporate owned assets such as company laptop and personally owned tablets is a challenge. Forrester suggests a combination of the predictable ‘refresh cycle’ and a new BYOD policy is the best bet. But with two thirds of tablet owners purchasing their tablets personally, as opposed to being provided with them from their workplace, it is safe to assume that (unless you plan on providing the latest technology to all of your employees) you will have to prepare for the BYOD Tsunami sooner rather than later.

The Benefits of BYOD
Successful BYOD policies also have a positive impact on employee productivity as well as saving costs. HR related costs can be reduced by up to 45% as employee recruitment is easier and employee satisfaction increases in more flexible working environments. Additionally, there are potentially major IT cost savings as staff members purchase their own devices. This can amount to thousands of dollars per employee over time.

The Costs of BYOD
Whilst the benefits of BYOD are many there are associated costs with its implementation.

  • Proper cross-functional change management planning takes a commitment of time from a wide range of people.
  • IT personnel have to be familiar with a wide range of new devices, platforms and mobile device management tools. They may also have to provide a level of support, which (unless controlled) can significantly erode their time.
  • For companies that provide employees with calling and data plans, they may lose their economy of scale advantage when negotiating deals with telecomms providers.
  • Some additional investment in wireless network capacity and security software should be expected in most environments.

However, the key message from Forrester’s Research is whatever the approach your business may chose, it needs to start now. Logicalis can also assist in building a business case, to ensure BYOD delivers the promised flexibility without increasing cost or operational overhead.

For a more detailed guide to the challenges facing businesses in implementing a BYOD environment please watch our video on the Logicalis Virtual Workspace solution and read opinions from subject matter experts who have been through a BYOD rollout:

Tags Digital Transformation, Borderless networks, BYOD, Forrester

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