Workers prefer companies with BYOD

The "bring your own device" trend is beginning to expand across the country, as employees are using their personal mobile devices in the office to complete work-related tasks. Increasingly, IT departments resisting this trend are in the minority, and companies that do not integrate BYOD risk losing ground to more nimble, efficient competitors.

Traditionally, companies issued mobile devices to workers in order to maintain high security standards. However, employees in numerous industries voiced their displeasure with having to deal with a work-issued phone and a personal device. With BYOD policies, employees no longer have to switch between phones, and companies no longer have to spend large sums of money on purchasing and distributing devices.

Although there are some legitimate security concerns that stem from workers who use mobile devices for both recreational and job-related purposes, a good mobile device management program will address and mitigate these risks. Increasingly, workers are looking for employers who facilitate BYOD, which allows for greater workforce flexibility. According to a recent Cisco study, 40 percent of current college students and 45 percent of employees would make the choice to take a lower paying job if it included a robust BYOD option.

Cisco itself is evolving on the question of BYOD.

“We’ve been in the interesting position for the last 12-18 months,” Ian Foddering, a Cisco CTO, told the BBC. “I look at what our clients are doing. Up until recently they’ve been deciding whether to block it or embrace it. Beforehand most people were ignoring it [but now] you’ll certainly find the more progressive organizations have embraced it.”

Cisco allows employees to use company-issued laptops and smartphones or purchase their own; though, workers won't get Cisco IT support if they choose certain brands. Instead, workers who choose these brands are connected with an internal network of other users who can provide troubleshooting.

According to recent research by the International Data Corporation, enterprise mobile users in the global business community will increase to 1.19 billion by 2013. An IDG study found that 65 percent of employees who use personal mobile devices for business said they have greater productivity throughout the work week. With numbers like this, it's clear that it's not only young professionals who are embracing BYOD. The trend is not limited to big companies like Cisco, either.

IT pro Andy Jacques told the BBC that small businesses are even more likely to see a big benefit from BYOD, given their more limited resources.

"If I was a small business owner, the last thing I would be doing would be buying employees phones and laptops," Jacques said.

As InformationWeek pointed out in a recent article, BYOD saves companies money by reducing expenditures for hardware. These savings will likely be more than enough to implement a strong MDM program to keep workers' mobile devices secure.