Alsbridge Insight: Mobile Consumerization Takes Flight

A new report from sourcing, benchmarking and telecom advisory firm, Alsbridge, Inc., today released a new report that outlines how to successfully implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), strategy through careful evaluation, the right sponsorship and the right implementation plan.

According to the report from Alsbridge, innovation in consumer technology is outpacing business, and many employees are using their personal devices and applications for work to leverage those innovations. In fact, 73 percent of enterprises now allow non-IT managed devices to access corporate resources.

“The proliferation of employee-owned smartphones and tablets continues to accelerate,” said Alsbridge founder and CEO, Ben Trowbridge. “Employees everywhere are growing impatient with standard issue devices and capabilities that many enterprises still deploy. CIOs and their IT organizations are faced with a profound challenge: Satisfy the demand for device, platform and application flexibility while mitigating the financial, operational, technical and security risks that emerge.”

BYOD IS REAL - Bring your own mobile device is part of the larger trend in the consumerization of IT, but it is one of the fastest growing segments and certainly the most visible in the media. Armed with a credit card, business units are provisioning cloud infrastructure, storage, hosted applications, collaboration tools and even customer-facing systems in hours and days. No pilot program, no vetting strategy, no IT involvement and often no mal-intent. It's the need to move quickly to seize opportunities, and the high availability of these services that drives the purchasing behavior.

CHALLENGES - The single biggest noise-maker in the argument against BYOD is device and information security. Another consideration in BYOD is the significant process change that's required for successful adoption. The opportunity for business disruption needs to be identified, and must be kept to a minimum. Perhaps the most profound obstacle is the absence of consistent best practices and "showcase" BYOD scenarios.

ALSBRIDGE RECOMMENDATIONS:

 - Know why you're doing it, and build the right business case
 - Set clear policies that govern which specific devices and apps will and won't be supported
 - Establish how the data on personal devices and apps will be managed and secured by the company
 - Formulate a plan for how employees will be reimbursed or subsidized for sanctioned personal tools, if at all
 - Move down the path to desktop as a service that gives employees access to enterprise apps and data on their sandboxed personal devices
 - Make a robust investment in support and education for employees in terms of policies, process and risk mitigation