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Most Companies Will Require You To Bring Your Own Mobile Device By 2017

Posted by samzenpus on from the get-your-own dept.

Lucas123 writes "Half of all employers will require workers to supply their own mobile devices for work purposes by 2017, according to a new Gartner study. Enterprises that offer only corporately-owned smartphones or stipends to buy your own will soon become the exception to the rule in the next few years. As enterprise BYOD programs proliferate, 38% of companies expect to stop providing devices to workers by 2016 and let them use their own, according to a global survey of CIOs by Gartner. At the same time, security remains the top BYOD concern. 'What happens if you buy a device for an employee and they leave the job a month later? How are you going to settle up? Better to keep it simple. The employee owns the device, and the company helps to cover usage costs,' said David Willis, a distinguished analyst at Gartner."

12 of 381 comments (clear)

  1. So.... by Mitreya · · Score: 5, Interesting

    As enterprise BYOD programs proliferate, 38% of companies expect to stop providing devices to workers by 2016 and let them use their own

    Do they get to monitor communications or wipe my own device now if anything goes wrong?

    1. Re:So.... by admdrew · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah, there's software out there to do exactly that, that a lot of employers (I'm in the network security field) already require to be installed if you want to connect to work resources.

      --
      LegendMUD
    2. Re:So.... by afidel · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I see the future of BYOD being running another OS instance for the work apps, or possibly a separate easily switched profile with encrypted storage. One of the biggest hurdles right now with iOS and BYOD is that the end user can easily recover the wiped data from their last icloud backup. There are similar concerns with personal Dropbox accounts, how do you regain control of your corporate data once it's on an account that the user controls? There are solutions to the problem like windows rights management server (DRM for corporate documents) but they don't tend to play well with machines that aren't part of the central infrastructure, and are especially poor at support non-PC platforms.

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    3. Re:So.... by afidel · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yes, and VMWare ready for Android devices, and the user profiles from Android 4.2 refined, and the encrypted partition and app space from Good, and a whole host of other existing solutions, but if BYOD is going to become pervasive it's going to need to be built in at the system level and be easy to manage (I have to give RIM credit, balance does a pretty good job of meeting all these needs, it's just a second tier platform at this point).

      --
      There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
    4. Re:So.... by Rich0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm as big a fan of the iPhone as anyone, but the tools you mention don't work for BYOD.

      What you aren't getting is that "Bring Your Own Device" really just means "Pay For The Company's Device."

      The company treats it like they own it. They get admin access. They lock the user from setting preferences (like screen lock settings, etc). They wipe it if they decide they don't need you any longer. They specify what kind of device you can bring.

      Basically you're buying a device, then leasing it free of charge to the company for the duration of your employment. You get it back when you quit.

    5. Re:So.... by Dcnjoe60 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I have a separate hard drive on my personal computer to boot from when I work from home, and I would love to be able to seamlessly use my phone to connect to work as well. Given the choice between my employer's giving me a non-android device (Given that my current phone is android based) and my bringing my own device, I would much rather bring my own device.

      Would you have that same feeling if your employer insisted on being able to monitor your calls, texts, data and other uses of your personal phone plus have the capabilities to wipe it? That is what the OP is saying his company does.

    6. Re:So.... by Martin+Blank · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm right there with you. As one of the security people involved with implementing BYOD (though somewhat peripherally) at my last job, I opted to keep the Blackberry issued to me rather than attach my phone to the enterprise network even though I had admin access to the system. Many people thought I was nuts, but I draw a fairly clear line between work and personal life. Knowing what can be monitored, I opted to maintain that line.

      I think that might be one of the things people don't realize, even if they read what the company should be supplying. The mobile device security industry is changing rapidly with hooks going much deeper than they used to. One product that we looked at (but didn't implement) allowed not only monitoring of call logs but copied all text and MMS messages to or from the device up to the server for archiving, something I viewed as far too invasive for BYOD. Even if it was deleted immediately from the device, the software grabbed it and copied it up (or archived it for copying if data wasn't available). But with companies clambering over each other for features, I'm sure it wasn't long before others added it to their own lists.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
  2. Yeah, right. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    They had better give me a stipend to buy my own machine, then, because I'm only going to use it for working with their company. In fact, it will never leave the office. No way in HELL are they going to be able to lay a claim on my personal equipment just because they want to lower their parts and labor costs.

  3. Concientious objector by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't want a smart phone. I choose not to use one - I only care to have a simple phone that does the bare minimum. If they want me to have a smart phone, they'd better provide it for me because I will not spend my own money for a device I choose not to have. Under Australian law (to which I am subject) I don't believe a company can force you to provide your own equipment.

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  4. Re:Subsidised phone is huge bargain for companies by Anonymous+Psychopath · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A company paying $75 or so for monthly smartphone service pays for itself many times over in keeping employees tethered to the business and available for around-the-clock email and messaging. I expect companies will continue paying for service even for BYOD shops. If forcing employees to purchase a phone discourages them from using a phone for work then it will be a huge loss for companies.

    This is how it works where I am (Fortune 500 technology company). The company pays all the service, including my personal calls and data use, and I pay for the phone. They negotiate shorter contract terms and lower up-front device costs. I get my choice of carriers and devices. They also negotiate discounted service pricing for my family.

    The company does not wipe my entire device when I disconnect it from their system and remove their MDM, they just delete their content and leave everything else alone. They do enforce screen lock timeouts and require a PIN or password. They will wipe my device in its entirety if it's stolen.

    This is a sane BYOD policy that balances the desire of the employees to have a choice in their electronic tether with their needs to secure their IP.

    --

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  5. If Your Employer Owns Your Cellphone, They Own You by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Cellphones are one of the absolute most personal things ever created. Imagine if there's a legal dispute, and your company subpoena's your cellphone, or because you are using it for work, naturally asume they have the right to look at everything you've done. Oh, you're carefully protected friends list?, theirs. Your banking information?, theirs. Your pornography collection, (whether or not you've actually used it for such at work), theirs. Wife sends you a teasing pic during the day, which your forgot to delete, Manager looks at it, fired for sexual harassment.

    In an ideal world, they wouldn't have access to anything on your phone, but the way things are going, anything used for work is considered fair game.

    Also, yes, security, but that's nothing compared to the privacy implications.

  6. 20 Extra Hours Per Week by Scot+Seese · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Awesome, so as an employee *I* have to pay for my $700 smartphone -AND- the expectation will exist that I will be monitoring emails nights and weekends?

    What a bargain for your employer, by chipping in $50-100/mo to pay for a fraction of your service plan, they get up to 20 hours per week of additional work out of you, according to this study:
    http://www.techvibes.com/blog/byod-trend-is-making-employees-work-an-extra-20-hours-per-week-report-suggests-2012-08-22

    This, on top of inflation-adjusted real wages that have not increased since 1973:
    http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2013/04/16/the-best-indicator-of-u-s-health-is-wage-growth-or-lack-thereof/

    Slashdot headline next summer: "BYO Desk all the rage among newer workers"

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