I know what you’re thinking “great another BYOD survey.” Trust me, that’s what I was thinking as well. This survey, however, bucks the trend of being quasi-credible when it comes to producing a BYOD survey.
It’s another BYOD survey, which may make some hearts sink; however this one is comprehensive and features both the consumer and senior IT professional’s point of view. The report, entitled “Samsung Mobile BYOD Index: Comparing IT and End User Outlooks on Bring Your Own Device” saw 262 ‘qualified IT decision makers’ and 501 end users surveyed.
The report found that only 15% of organizations surveyed explicitly prohibited personal device programs. Digging deeper, of the 85% which didn’t prohibit BYOD, 60% had policies in place (31% informal, 29% formal). The remaining 25% had no policy either way yet did not explicitly ban personal device usage by employees.
Further, in the vast majority of cases it didn’t seem to matter what your company rank was. Only 2% of organisations surveyed restricted a BYOD policy to executive leadership-level employees.
Why is BYOD becoming the Norm in business?
Put simply, the majority of respondents agreed with the statement that “carrying separate work and personal phones simply doesn’t make sense”. Security requirements was also a popular choice with 84% of those surveyed – perhaps surprising given security as a traditional BYOD weakness.
Elsewhere, increased workforce mobility (67%), increase in mobile device computing power (59%) and executive preference (58%) were also popular options.
Another interesting element related to the amount of company funds set aside for BYOD policy. Seven out of 10 companies provided subsidies of some kind (39% formal, 31% informal) for a company device, with 28% of companies asking employees to stump up for a personal device they wish to use at work.
Overall, this is an excellent article to read if you’re looking for BYOD research.