"Can CYOD Be A Credible Alternative To BYOD?" -- The average office-goer today has 1.2 personal web-connected devices – not all of them given by the office. Offices today are likely buzzing with as many or more personal devices as there are office computers or printers. Many employees voluntarily choose to use their personal mobile devices, including iPads or other tablets, notebook PCs, or smartphones to connect to their office email or documents both within or outside the office. This trend became so pervasive that a large number of organizations embraced a movement called Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), where IT departments allowed employees freedom to choose a computing or mobile device of their liking, and use it to connect to the office network. BYOD grew out of the larger trend of consumerization of IT; in which consumer software and hardware are increasingly being brought into the enterprise. Some organizations’ IT managers provide high level s of support and access for almost any device, while others urge employees to use a select set of devices, and offer varying levels of support depending on the device and business need. As a result, the number of devices per employee is growing from a one-to-one relationship to a one-to-many relationship. A single user today will interchangeably connect to the network with a Windows laptop, and possibly an iOS or Android smartphone or a tablet throughout the day. In fact, the adoption of smartphones, tablets and notebooks is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 25.7 percent through 2015.According to a survey by mobility services and Wi-Fi company iPass, 90 percent of organizations will have to support BYOD by 2014. Analyst house Forrester predicts that in two years’ time, 350 million workers will use smartphones, 200 million of whom will take their own devices to the workplace. A study conducted by Data Security Council of India (DSCI) threw up some interesting facts on the Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) trend in India. As it stands, 66 per cent of the chief information officers (CIOs) in the Indian enterprises encourage their respective employees to bring their own devices to work. About 44 per cent of them even let their staff pick and choose their own set of personal devices to execute their work at office premises. For organizations, BYOD means supporting a seemingly endless array of devices across multiple operating systems, while still maintaining a high level of service provisioning. From both the employer’s and the employee’s perspective, there are plenty of reasons to encourage adoption of BYOD. It can be marketed as an employee benefit. Many employees see the choice to have an Android or an iPhone, or to enjoy a laptop of their choosing, as an employment benefit, especially as compared to carrying around extra work devices. Generally, anything that empowers employees is seen as a good thing, lowering turnover and fostering goodwill. BYOD increases employee productivity and allows an employee to customize their device to suit their needs. Happy employees are productive employees, especially in today’s market where many staff are expected to ‘do more with less.’ BYOD also brings tax benefits to an organization by shifting expense taxation from capital expenditures (CapEx) to operating expense (OpEx), which can result in a lowered income tax liability for employers. Despite these benefits, we can’t disagree that BYOD poses its own challenges for the organizations. To keep costs low, companies must ensure they can securely on board new devices and quickly identify and resolve problems. For users BYOD means using the laptop or smartphone that suits their needs. They must also understand support, considerations and what happens when a device is replaced, lost or stolen. BYOD could cause violation of rules, regulations, trust, intellectual prop erty and other critical business obligations. Organizations need to manage growing workforce expectations around mobility. The employees use many devices and they expect to use any device or application anytime, anywhere creating and issue of compromising secure data. If left unmanaged, BYOD can lead to loss of control, impact your network availability, and cause data loss. Some of these challenges can be overcome by finding a middle ground between BYOD and a mandated device. The concept of Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) allows IT managers to provide their employees with a menu of devices, all of which the organization will support. CYOD therefore gives employees a real choice in their preferred computing or mobile device, while still limiting the variety of devices that the IT department needs to work with. In this way, CYOD bridges the wide gap between unfettered device choice and the IT department’s need to manage and secure the organization’s IT assets. CYOD standardizes security and management over a range of IT-approved devices. It can help businesses easily manage the deployment of multiple device options with the right configurations. CYOD also provides a credible alternative to Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). When organizations choose CYOD, they ensure that only the most up to date and secure versions of operating systems and apps are accessed by all employees. It is a win-win situation for employees – who get to choose a device of their preference – and the IT manager. Also, by overcoming the unique set of challenges that BYOD comes with, CYOD is definitely the next step in procuring client PCs for any progressive organization. - Leo Joseph is Director, Enterprise Sales, PPS (Printing and Personal Systems) Group at HP India Read More-- -- Read More at informationweek.in/Mobile/13-09-09/Can_CYOD_be_a_credible_alternative_to_BYOD.aspx:)
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 05:05:25 +0000
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