Survey Reveals IT Pros Fear BYOD Trend

IT directors are fearful of the bring your own device (BYOD) trend, according to a research study from ICT solutions company Damovo UK. The research shows that 73 per cent of IT directors fear IT costs will “spiral out of control” as a result of BYOD. 

BYOD, the practice of employees using their own smartphones, tablets, and computers for their work, is causing IT directors a number of headaches, according to the study. Companies lose bulk-buying power, and are expected to provide IT support for a wider variety of devices. 

69 per cent of those surveyed said they expect no reduction in IT costs as people use their own devices, while 67 per cent said that the drive to support “the CEOs latest toys” is driving the majority of BYOD agendas. 

Security is another concern, and 44 per cent of those surveyed said that they expect implementing new security measures to be the biggest short-term financial cost of BYOD.

82 per cent are concerned that the additional effort required to configure network access privileges will be a further burden on the business.

The survey revealed that more than a third (39 per cent) of organisations have not published BYOD usage guidelines, while 71 per cent admitted not having a corporate applications store in place for employees to download enterprise approved software and applications.

“These concerns highlight the need for organisations to establish their policy on BYOD as a matter of priority,” says Glyn Owen, portfolio manager at Damovo UK. “As an increasing variety of mobile costs are claimed against employee expenses, it is inevitable that enterprise costs will rocket. The use of personal devices in the workplace continues to be driven by employees rather than a defined business strategy.”

The study was commissioned by Damovo UK and carried out by independent research company Vanson Bourne. It surveyed 100 IT directors at UK organisations with more than 1,000 employees.