Azzurri: Forget BYOD - it's all about CYOD
BYOD is being shunned by UK organisations in favour of a hybrid alternative, according to research commissioned by the VAR
Bring your own device (BYOD) is failing to live up to the hype as research suggests that more than twice as many UK firms are opting for a watered-down version being dubbed choose your own device (CYOD).
According to a study commissioned by comms VAR Azzurri Communications, only 17.2 per cent of UK firms currently run a company-wide (involving more than 75 per cent of employees) BYOD policy, up from 11 per cent when the research was conducted a year earlier.
In contrast, 31 per cent now run a company-wide CYOD policy, where the organisation owns the SIM/contract but lets employees select their own device. This is up significantly on the 19.5 per cent that had adopted CYOD last year (see graph, bottom).
Carried out by research house Shape the Future in August and September, the survey polled ICT decision makers at 224 UK organisations. Although the size of the firms involved ranged from micro-business with fewer than 10 staff to large enterprises with more than 5,000 staff, about two thirds were SMBs with between 10 and 500 employees.
Just 12.8 per cent of those polled thought BYOD was the best option for their business, compared with 59.9 per cent for CYOD. Some 27.3 per cent felt the traditional corporate set-up of don't bring your own device (DBYOD) is the best way forward.
Where organisations are opting for BYOD, they are tending to do it on only a "token" basis, Azzurri said. Some 58 per cent now allow fewer than 10 per cent of employees to connect their private devices, up from 43 per cent last year.
While BYOD can be the best option for specific workers, including hospital consultants, most end users see the hybrid approach of CYOD as the best fit for their needs because it offers the right balance of choice and control, said Azzurri chief technology officer Rufus Grig.
"Despite all the puff and promise of BYOD, the evidence shows that adoption is far lower than the hype would lead us to believe," Grig said.
CYOD represents the best of both worlds by offering a controlled network environment that still offers workers the benefit of a single work/home device of their choice, Grig added.
"CYOD is also less of a cultural leap for the organisation, since maintaining ownership of the contract is much closer to the status quo of corporate provision," he said. "So aside from the security and monetary risks, BYOD is often a leap too far for many, so it is only natural that they prefer to stick to what they know."