Research, commissioned by BT, shows over 80% of IT managers think that organisations with a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy, hold a competitive advantage over those that don’t have such a policy in place.
The research also shows that BYOD has arrived. Over four in five companies say they already allow BYOD or will do within the next 24 months and sixty per cent of employees claim they are already allowed to connect personally-owned devices to the corporate network.
Despite the benefits IT managers clearly recognise, many are nervous. Only one in ten think that all BYOD users recognise the risks and less than one in five believe all users understand the access/permissions related to their mobile devices.
And it appears IT managers are nervous with some justification. Of employees who use their own device for work, one in three see “no risk” in using their own device in a work context and just a quarter recognise the significant risk, they pose to company security.
However, to meet these challenges head-on, enterprises need to have a clear policy, a combination of the right tools to implement it, the trust with which to deliver it to employees and the processes in the business that everyone understands and buys into. IT security has always been about a blend of people, policy, process and technology, and the right blend is even more critical in a BYOD world. So, rather than being perceived as a barrier to agility or flexibility, security can act as an enabler which improves an organisation’s ability to adapt to the BYOD trend, Neil Sutton, Vice President, Global Portfolio at BT Global Services, says.
The research was conducted as part of the BT Assure ‘Rethink the risk’ program.
Some other findings from the BYOD research:
- Sixty four per cent of IT managers think that having a BYOD policy will enable employees to be more productive.
- Forty-eight per cent think it will also allow employees to work more flexibly
- 47 per cent think it will enable employees to serve customers better.
- 42 per cent of employees using their own device for work believe that they are more efficient and productive as a result.
Check out the results (per country/region) below.
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