When the bring your own device (BYOD) phenomenon initially took off in the enterprise world, managers openly welcomed it since it cut down the required expenses needed to purchase each employee in a firm a device. However, according to the 2013 edition of the Mobile Enterprise Report published by iPass Inc (News - Alert). in conjunction with mobile device management provider MobileIron, BYOD comes with its own set of challenges.

Based on the real life experiences of 477 IT executives globally, the implementation of BYOD is becoming a hard beast to tame. With over half of the respondents (57 percent) confident that data roaming charges will be on the risee in 2013 and eight percent predicting a staggering 25 percent increase, it is clear that the implementation of BYOD solutions is soon going to be a maze many have to live with.

Since the company cannot control the type of devices its employees come to work with, the task of creating a system to accommodate the cross platform variation is an obstacle that most IT departments have to learn how to quickly overcome. This, however, has been simplified by the fact that some companies have put in place formal policies to govern the whole BYOD venture. The 2013 Mobile Enterprise Report findings show that 54 percent of the companies have walked down this path with North American companies adopting the idea sooner than their European counterparts do.

According to Ojas Rege, VP of Strategy, MobileIron, successful implementation of BYOD has to do with much more than the mere shifting of device ownership to the employee. He is of the opinion that if the whole transition is to run smoothly, firms have to put in place checks and balances to secure enterprise data and guarantee long term sustainability of the implementation while upholding employee satisfaction.

Despite the potential pitfalls plaguing the adoption of BYOD, the report shows that it continues to be popular in the corporate world. The informative report draws from the findings of a survey conducted between December 2012 and January 2013, with the majority of the respondents being actively involved in the BYOD revolution.