BYOD is cheaper, faster, more adaptable, and here to stay

The stats don't lie, as Gartner, TechNavio and Computing Research show us

BYOD use is set to grow by a further 35 per cent before 2019, in a market that now offers better enterprise opportunities than companies buying their own kit.

These are the findings of reports by analysts at Gartner and TechNavio, which are further supported by Computing's own primary research.

According to Frederica Troni at Gartner, while $500,000 can buy and support 1,000 tablets owned by an enterprise, the same amount can support 2,745 tablets owned by the users themselves.

While the maths is obvious here - a company not having to pay for something will obviously be better for budgets - the chief difference when compared to years gone by is that security and infrastructure for tablets on a software level is now becoming available in cheaper, wider-reaching and user-ready packages.

The likes of Moble Iron, Airwatch and even BlackBerry are pushing each other to provide cheaper and more comprehensive MDM (mobile device management).

Indeed, a spat between Good Technology and BlackBerry underscored much of John Chen's early reign as CEO at the latter company.

"Without a stipend, direct costs of user-owned tablets are 64 per cent lower," said Troni.

"When organisations have several users who want a tablet as a device of convenience, offering a BYOD option is the best alternative to limit cost and broaden access."

Gartner predicted that by 2017, 90 per cent of organisations will support "some aspect" of BYOD, and that by 2018 there will be twice as many employee-owned mobile devices in the workplace than enterprise-owned.

TechNavio said that the BYOD security market will see a compound annual growth rate of 35.23 per cent between 2014 and 2019.

In the UK, Computing Research shows that, though adoption may be slower, there's definitely a curve in the direction of intensifying mobility.

In 2013, 63 per cent of UK organisations described their staff as "primarily office-based", while this figure slipped to 52 per cent in 2014. Meanwhile, "cross-site" or campus workers rose from five per cent to 12 per cent.

The head of security at a large telco told Computing:

"The work location place is becoming a work location space. It's a transition from a place to a space... people want data everywhere and that is because they have got that flexibility through the devices..."

But Troni warned that savings from BYOD are not automatic.

"Organisations that are looking to broaden device choices or expand access to mobile technology may spend the same or more under BYOD as for organisation-owned devices," she said.

Computing Research found that 66 per cent of CIOs see BYOD as a way to increase efficiency and productivity, while 58 per cent put flexibility as their top BYOD goal. Only 29 per cent put better customer focus as their primary objective.

UK CIOs believe that by 2017 some 75 per cent of their workers will use smartphones to conduct business on the move, up from 43 per cent now, and only 16 per cent back in 2011.

But of those who don't have a robust mobility strategy in place yet, 67 per cent of CIOs speak of users being equipped with a standard-issue company device. Only five per cent expect this to be true within 12 months.

A balanced mix of enterprise-owned and user-owned devices with different levels of stipends will be the most effective way of capitalising the benefits of BYOD programmes, both in terms of cost reduction and in terms of level of access to mobile technology," said Troni.