Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is the recent trend of employees buying their own information technology platforms, then bringing them into work with the expectation that IT provides support for access to company systems. Not so many years ago, IT handled ALL hardware and software acquisition … but this model of control has self-destructed faster than you can say ‘iPhone’.

In the BYOD work, employees will increasingly drive product and platform adoption. Employees pick the smartphones and tablets, and IT had better adapt and get going in terms of helping unlock opportunity for the company, including at a minimum, total email support and integration, VPN support, and access to corporate applications. As well, employees pick services like Google Apps and Salesforce.com, and IT had better focus on helping to make the platform as productive as possible for the company’s investment.

BYOD is here to stay, and effective IT is about not just supporting it, but in EMBRACING it to help create even more choice, innovation, and productivity … effective BYOD can help IT transition a tolerated cost center, to a valued member of the team with a focus on business, customers, and the bottom line.

Mike