The cost of supporting an individual employee who brings their own device to the office is expected to hit $300 per year by 2016, according to a new report on BYOD from Gartner.
According to report author Nick Ingelbrecht, the current cost of supporting a BYOD employee is around $100 per year. “The cost will increase alongside the costs of mobile device management and software costs,” he told CRN.
At present, said Ingelbrecht, around two thirds of all employees are already engaged in some form of BYOD. The most popular devices are smartphones, followed by desktop PCs, laptops and tablets.
BYOD is often associated with security issues, as organisations and employees struggle to separate corporate data from personal information. However Ingelbrecht said the real issue is many organisations don’t have solid, easily understood policies about BYOD.
“There is an uneven application of policies across organisations,” he said, adding that in many instances employees won’t realise they’ve violated a policy because they’re unaware such policies exist.
One reason for the lack of policies, and the poor understanding of policies is because the consumerisation of business technology, and the types of devices available tends to run ahead of organisational thinking.
“The issue is that the horse has bolted,” he said, “and it’s very hard to retrospectively impose policies once people have already started using the devices as part of their daily work lives.”
There is also little understanding around how BYOD costs will be reimbursed by the organisation. Many organisations don’t reimburse, while a smaller percentage reimburse for use. Ingelbrecht compares the situation to the use of personal vehicles as part of an employee’s job. “Mileage, wear and tear and fuel costs are all well understood by both the employer and the employee,” he said. “That’s not the case with BYOD.”
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