Study: BYOD usage to reach 350 million employees by 2014

As this blog has reported numerous times, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies are growing in popularity among businesses. By allowing employees to use their own technology, companies can save on hardware and training costs, while receiving access to the latest devices in the business world. According to a new study, over the next couple of years, the BYOD trend is expected to grow by 200 million participants.

The recent report from Juniper Research currently has 150 million employees using their own smartphones and tablets in the office. That number is predicted to rise to 350 million by 2014 and industry experts consider this growth to be “inevitable.”

While there are many benefits to BYOD deployment, without proper oversight the movement can become a “security nightmare.”

Juniper report author Nitin Bhas called for companies to ensure proper device management and IT policies for users, if BYOD strategies are going to be successful. Having employees use their own technology for business functions brings with it new security risks. Without the foresight to incorporate that kind of safety protocol, businesses could face major problems.

For BYOD solutions to be successful there are a number of outside factors that need to be taken into account. So much so that a new survey from Lieberman Software found that 67 percent of companies polled believe that implementing BYOD will increase IT costs across the board, despite arguments to the contrary.

The complex nature of adding personal tablets and smartphones to a company’s infrastructure means businesses need to be thinking big picture. Organizations in Ohio that are interested in deploying a BYOD policy would be wise to partner with an IT consulting firm.

From our offices in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, PRO OnCall is your single-source technology consulting service, offering managed IT support, unified communications solutions and on-call IT support.