Early January's BYOD Surge into Enterprises

10 Dec 2012

2012's holiday shopping season is marked by the increased demand for electronics, including smartphones and tablets. A significant percentage of those devices are expected to carry into enterprises' BYOD in early January 2013.

Aside from the Samsung Galaxy S III, Apple's iPhone 5, and Windows 8 smartphones, many new tablets, such as the iPad Mini, Google's Nexus 10, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Microsoft's Surface, and Amazon's Kindle Fire, will inevitably be brought into the workplace.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, over seven percent of adults plan to buy consumer electronic products as gifts this year. An estimated 32 million tablets will be sold in the U.S. this Christmas alone. That's more than 110 percent from last year's figure.

It is likely that businesses and organizations are not ready for the potential onslaught of the BYOD wave after the holidays. The results of a Network World survey last summer underscored how only 16 percent of the participants admitted to having BYOD policies in place. BYOD policies are fundamental because rules must be specified regarding the use of personal devices in accessing corporate resources and the accompanying security expectations and requirements.

Thus, if only 16 percent of organizations had their BYOD policies in place, companies are: 1) hoping their employees will pay attention to the corporate ban against using personal devices for work-related matters, 2) putting faith in their existing security controls to prevent the said use, 3) not looking at BYOD as much of a threat to corporate resources, 4) not grasping the magnitude of the problem or the extent of the risk BYOD poses to the organization, or 5) applying a mix of the aforementioned four situations.

Anecdotal evidence would indicate that most businesses, except for those organizations that have strictly lock-down policies, are in the fifth camp. Thus, whether allowed in the office premises or not, many companies understand BYOD is already happening. They have set some security measures in place, but either they consider the benefits to offset the risks or they are uncertain as to how much of an exposure they have.

Implementing BYOD's policy essentials is considered a must for IT departments. The implications for IT departments are intricate and huge, affecting everything from wireless network performance to issues touching on worker satisfaction, compliance, productivity, support, and IT costs. Worker satisfaction, in particular, is important because with it, the IT can simply "ride the wave rather than try to create it." Since BYOD has potential to keep the workforce engaged, then it can be exploited to aid IT-related endeavors such as collaborative and social undertakings. (KOM) Link

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