For many years, businesses supplied their employees with a phone to keep personal and work information separate. With the advent of more sophisticated smartphones, these policies are all but obsolete. Some employers may stick with the old policy of mandating what phone the employee must use, but new research has found that this may not be the smartest move.
In a new research survey from CIO Insight, the firm found employers that have a BYOD, or “Bring your own device,” policy see massive gains in productivity among employees, despite the inherent risks. That productivity will come at a price, however, as companies will need to start investing in mobile integration policies.
Let’s check out some of the stats from CIO Insight that show how BYOD policies are transforming the workplace for the better. For instance, the research found that 62 percent of the 500 IT and business executives that took part in the survey said that BYOD policies increased productivity. Fifty-nine percent said that it leads to more employee flexibility, and 47 percent said that such policies lead to cost savings.
Of course, companies still distribute smartphones and other devices among some employees. Fifty-eight percent of the surveyed organizations said that they will supply employees with devices, but also allow them to bring their own instead. Only eight percent of those surveyed said that they leave device acquisition entirely up to the employees.
Those who do supply employees with smartphones or other devices will have to start budgeting out those purchases now. Thirty-four percent of those surveyed said that they will have to invest in hardware bundles within the next two years. Even if your employees do bring their own device, companies will still have to budget out the hardware required to distribute information among those smartphones.
That being said, only 13 percent of survey respondents said that there’s heavy integration of mobile devices within companies. Those that have integrated mobile devices, however, are working on a number of projects to increase productivity among workers on mobile devices. Forty-nine percent of respondents are implementing virtual desktop systems so employees can work on the go, while 29 percent are building custom mobile apps to be distributed across business networks.
The point of all this is to say that mobile integration is incredibly important. A BYOD policy only helps to increase the speed in which mobile integration occurs. Not to mention, employees will be pleased to use their own Android or iOS device, instead of a business mandated BlackBerry device.