KimberMedia

Would You Pay Your Boss to BYOD?

Posted by
in Security, Technology
May 17, 2012

Cisco just released survey results from its IBSG Horizon Study on BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).

Until I read it I didn’t know that using my personally-owned device, either in the office or away, to access my employer’s resources (email, data, file servers, etc.) had earned its own acronym. But it has. With or without an acronym, it’s a big deal.

Sometimes surveys just quantify what you’ve been seeing with your own eyes everyday.

Smartphones, laptops, and now tablets are everywhere. People are discovering that following their personal preferences for the devices and apps they use is increasing productivity and flexibility, thereby improving customer service. British communications firm BT reported survey results saying “42 percent of employees using their own devices for work believe they are more efficient and productive as a result.”

The Cisco survey says employers see BYOD benefits, too. Survey respondents estimate that companies see a per-employee savings in the range of $300 to $1,300 when those employees use their own devices.

The thing that interests me most about the Cisco survey is not the survey itself, but an inaccurate report about the survey written by Ryan Faas on the Cult of Mac web site. Fass wrongly reported that Cisco charges each of its employees a one-time $600 fee to use a personal device, and that some employees were gladly paying the fee. It’s not true.

Cisco’s PR Director commented on the story and reiterated what was clear in the original news release:  Cisco employees who bring their own devices spend an average of $600 to purchase the mobile devices they use to access company resources. But, they don’t pay Cisco for anything.

The concerns associated with BYOD for employers are real. Security issues continue to increase with the BYOD phenomenon. Providing tech support grows in complexity when the devices employees use are not standardized. And we’ve said nothing of bandwidth impacts.

When I realized that over half of my personal cell phone use was for the benefit of my employer, I asked for an allowance. And I got it. My employer saw the benefits too.

So, right now, I can’t imagine a day when my preferences for my personal devices and apps would be so substantial that I’d PAY my employer for the ability to do my job with them. Can you?

Employers, do you have a BYOD policy in place? Can you envision a scenario in which you’d ask your employees to pay for the convenience of using their own devices?

I can’t. But I’d love to know what you think. Please post your comments below.

Kevin is a blogger and account manager with KimberMedia. And he’s a no slouch with WordPress. So he’s in on our website maintenance projects, too. Kevin has a long history as a project manager. He schemes, then gets things done. He’s a small business owner, an association executive, a registered lobbyist, a yoga teacher, a biologist and a word nerd. He likes to sing in the choir at church, travel, and laugh a lot. Google