BYOD On The Rise

An industry analysis by Hexa Research predicts that the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) market will experience significant growth by 2020, as more and more employers discover the benefits of this practice. BYOD refers to a business practice where employees, rather than being supplied with a company computer, smartphone, tablet, etc., are now bringing their own devices themselves and connecting them to the company network, where they can access anything they need for work.

This practice only became truly feasible recently. This is because, in the past, it was difficult to configure platforms in such a way that they could be used over multiple operating systems. Now, however, a company does not have to require all of its employees to have the same Apple iPhone or Android (News - Alert) equipped smartphone to use their own device, it is instead compatible across operating systems.

When done correctly, BYOD has many advantages. First of these is dramatic cost reduction, as companies no longer have to pay for hardware for all of their employees and simply incur the costs of making their employees’ preexisting devices network-capable. Having control over their own devices also tends to give employees greater job satisfaction, and the fact that they now have home or remote access to their company’s network also means an increase in productivity.

These advantages for businesses are predicted to be the driving force behind this rise in the popularity of BYOD. With this growth in BYOD, however, there must also be at least an equal growth of IT services. IT professionals will now have to deal with bugs and other issues on a multitude of devices with different operating systems. They will thus have to increase the breadth as well as the depth of their knowledge when it comes to troubleshooting and solving problems.