Skip to main content

Global Study Finds that BYOD is Growing Rapidly

More employees are using their own smartphones and media tablets at work, and they expect to connect them to the enterprise wireless network. Some IT managers still wonder if this is merely a fad -- it isn't. According to the latest market study by Ovum, Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) is here to stay.

Moreover, they have revealed the findings of a 2013 multi-market BYOX (bring-your-own-anything) study to help the doubters understand that the time for decisive action is now.

With corporate BYOD activity by full-time employees (FTEs) remaining steady at almost 60 percent over the past two years, Ovum tells business leaders to respond and adapt to this change in employee behavior -- rather than resist the growing demand.

Launching the research at its "BYOX World Forum" in London, Ovum revealed that the BYOX phenomenon shows no signs of disappearing, as nearly 70 percent of employees who own a smartphone or tablet choose to use it to access corporate data.

The personal tablet market continues to grow, and with personal tablet ownership by FTEs rising from 28.4 to 44.5 percent over the last 12 months, more businesses will see these devices on their networks. Moreover, this activity will continue whether the CIO wants it to or not.

Ovum’s study shows that 67.8 percent of smartphone-owning employees bring their own smartphone to work, and 15.4 percent of these do so without the IT department’s knowledge and 20.9 percent do so in spite of an anti-BYOD policy.

"Trying to stand in the path of consumerized mobility is likely to be a damaging and futile exercise," says Richard Absalom, consumer impact technology analyst at Ovum. "We believe businesses are better served by exploiting this behavior to increase employee engagement and productivity, and promote the benefits of enterprise mobility."

Ovum’s research also depicts the rise of the bring-your-own-application (BYOA) trend. While email and calendar remains the most commonly used apps on both corporately provisioned and personally owned devices, the usage of new-generation cloud productivity applications -- such as enterprise social networking, file sync and share and IM/VoIP -- is growing fast.

However, Ovum found that these types of apps are increasingly being sourced by employees themselves and not through managed corporate channels -- 25.6 percent of employees discovered their own enterprise social networking apps, while 22.1 percent and 30.7 percent of employees discovered their own file sync and share apps and IM/VoIP apps, respectively.

"The thread that runs through all of the data is that IT is not keeping up with the changing demands and behavior patterns of the new mobilized, consumerized workforce. Nowhere is this clearer than in the BYOA data. If employees are sourcing their own applications to do their job, then IT is not delivering the right tools or a good enough user experience for its employees," concludes Absalom.

Popular posts from this blog

Global EV Charging Revenue to Exceed $300B

During 2022, fuel prices increased very quickly, partly due to a number of macroeconomic reasons. In fact, the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic are still impacting fuel prices, with many oil refineries having reduced capacity due to a prior fall in demand. Those significant events and other trends have created a demand for a growing variety of Electric Vehicles (EVs). While EVs have existed for decades, they really became a viable option for more consumers during the past five years. However, although EVs are suitable for some buyer needs, their usability is constrained by the current availability of battery charging infrastructure. EV Charging Market Development According to the latest worldwide market study by Juniper Research, revenue from electric vehicle charging will exceed $300 billion globally by 2027 -- that's up from $66 billion in 2023. Regardless, the Juniper analysis found that fragmentation in battery charging networks is restricting further EV adoption in some

Human Resource Transformation Enabled by IT

Many senior executives are taking a proactive approach to digital business transformation in order to achieve their strategic goals. Delivering revenue growth and profitability is now imperative for every function, including Human Resources (HR). The top 3 priority HR technologies this year are skills management, learning experience platforms, and internal talent marketplaces, according to the latest worldwide market study by Gartner. "With a tumultuous global economy, HR technology leaders face a balancing act in 2023," said Sam Grinter, director at Gartner . "Leaders must anticipate greater levels of accountability and demand for measurable outcomes to justify new technology investments." HR Transformation Market Development Forty-four percent of HR leaders report driving better business outcomes is their number one strategic priority for HR technology transformation over the next three years. Growth in headcount and skills (26 percent) and cost optimization (17 p

How Savvy Pioneers Lead the Future of Work

Hybrid and fully remote work are inevitable in the Global Networked Economy where high-performance talent demands flexibility from employers. To enable these progressive work models, organizations are investing in a wide range of technologies to support more agile types of employment.  According to the latest worldwide market study by International Data Corporation (IDC), leading organizations will spend nearly $1 billion on the Future of Work (FoW) in 2023 -- that's an increase of 18.8 percent over 2022. Future of Work Market Development "Work models continue to evolve, but 37 percent of decision-makers in a recent global survey note that Remote and Hybrid work models will be an embedded part of accepted work practices, supported by a continued shift to the cloud, increasingly instrumented and interconnected physical workplaces, and intelligent digital workspaces," said Holly Muscolino, group vice president at IDC . According to the IDC assessment, organizations must mak