As bring your own device (BYOD) evolves into BYOx, enterprises are adapting to employee demands for social media, personal electronics, and similar BYOC (BYO cloud) inroads from their private technology lives.
This presents IT with a new challenge, says Michael Howard, co-founder and principal analyst at Infonetics Research, and that is to balance employees' needs against keeping corporate data secure, but without driving BYOx behaviour below the IT management radar.
In light of this, Howard approached a panel of wireless networking professionals on how they are tackling the BYOD evolution so enterprises can harness its potential without the risk.
John Marshall, senior VP and GM at AirWatch by VMware; Erik Papir, worldwide director of technical marketing at HP; Manish Rai, vice-president of marketing at Meru; and Vittorio Viarengo, vice-president of marketing and products at MobileIron, were posed the question: "Why BYOD and how is your company addressing these challenges?".
Howard says mobile device management is no longer enough. "New policies must embrace the specific app usage capabilities of smartphones and tablets. Enterprise mobility management is evolving, providing ways to build corporate app stores and mobile application management.
"The definition of 'mobile device' is extending to cover laptops, and the whole mobile computing estate needs to be managed from a single place, while ensuring mobile security and compliance in the cloud."
Some numbers
Howard notes wireless devices are "going through the roof".
He says research shows the number of smartphones will double by 2017, while the number of tablets is expected to triple over the same period. "But are they finding their way into enterprise networks? The answer is a resounding 'yes'."
According to Infonetics research, mobile devices are growing the fastest. In 2012, the research firm said by September this year, half of all devices in North America would be mobile - as opposed to a third at the time.
"Meanwhile, desktops are declining and the number of devices per user going up."
Device ownership is also changing, says Howard. "Traditionally, companies issued and controlled the devices employees use [and] now a majority allow employees to bring their own devices."
Only 25% of companies in an October 2012 Infonetics survey across North America said they would not allow BYOD by 2014.
There are a number of motivations for BYOD, says Howard, and while there is no clear favourite, what is clear is that strategies are broadly being adopted in different ways.
The top strategy that arose from Infonetics' research was to deal with rapid advances in technology and get the new technology into the hands of employees quickly (34%).
Other strategies BYOD respondents attested were the use of BYOD to augment existing devices (33%), using BYOD to replace existing devices (33%), only allowing certain classes of users to BYOD (31%), using BYOD to cater to user preferences (25%), providing users with a stipend to purchase their own device (21%), and discontinuing the issuing of company-owned devices (21%).
BYOD practice
"But, in a practical sense, what are the implications of BYOD for the industry, companies and for individual users?" questions Howard.
Marshall says companies are generally struggling in the overall adoption of BYOD. He says there is a perception out there that BYOD is a one-size-fits-all phenomenon, but in reality there are many different levels of it.
"In the early days of BYOD, it was a case of either a company adopts it, or not. Now we are seeing people everywhere adopting it in smaller waves."
For the individual, says Marshall, BYOD means better tools and an easier and more effective means of carrying out certain tasks - both in a private and professional capacity - in their own way and time.
"From the IT side, BYOD presents opportunities as much as it does challenges. We have seen that those who have invested in wireless infrastructure and other foundational elements to further BYOD, are in a better position."
Papir says governance has been "a fun part of BYOD". From a user's perspective, he says, many more now have much more choice and can bring any device they want to into the office.
"It's a different scenario altogether now. Even though the governance side of BYOD is for some a headache, if you can get wireless management and mobility management right, it can be an easy process.
"Simplification is key. If you give the user an easy way to use the corporate network they will follow it. If not, they are just going to find ways around it. Providing employees with the right tools is important."
Rai says the majority of enterprise access is wireless - a shift that was spurred by the iPad's entrance into the market. "The Christmas after the iPad was released, we started getting calls around BYOD and budgets for it started appearing in enterprises - and it's been non-stop ever since."
He says the issue is not coverage, but capacity. "Enterprises' budgets are shifting from wired to wireless. The next step is looking at how they on-board incoming devices when every employee - rather than just the executive - is bringing them into the workplace.
"The next phase is having more intelligence in the network. Enterprises want visibility and to be able to identify what clusters of devices and what apps are driving capacity on the network. Then comes the need to define and enforce policy."
Viarengo says to focus merely on the security and problems surrounding BYOD is short-sighted. "We have the opportunity now to look at history. Mobility is the biggest opportunity we have had in a while. We can see this is becoming the platform for apps and companies are currently on a journey.
"The question for all is: 'What do I do about all the devices that are on my network, how do I secure them?' and the innovative companies are looking at how they can be more competitive by giving their employees the ability to use their mobile devices to carry out tasks."
The technology is there, says Viarengo. "The biggest challenge is the cultural challenge it presents to IT when the shift is made from saying no to devices, to saying yes. Then there is the issue of educating employees. Many think that once there is a BYOD policy in place companies have access to employees' private communications. This just isn't true."
He says MobileIron sees BYOD as being a use case for something much bigger. "The world is going mobile first."
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