BYOD enthusiasts beware
Is BYOD really ready for a broader stage? Stuart Cordingley is not so sure
The IT resellers with whom I work keep telling me they don't think mobile is worth providing to their customers.
BYOD benefits are clear. The company gets to reduce costs and the employee has freedom of choice. The arguments against are mainly about the lack of security and control as well as the difficulty of supporting multiple devices and limiting downtime when the device fails.
I ask them: "Can the companies deliver a secure, reliable service to their employees?" The overall mobile experience has never been more important, with all the talk (and reality) of cloud services, such as Microsoft Office 365 and Google Apps, enabling the office on the move.
Obviously, if everyone brought his or her own device immediately, mobile network sales teams, independent mobile providers and mobile service providers would go out of business overnight.
Everyone would be buying devices and airtime from their local high street store. But the technology, people and processes are not ready for widespread adoption just yet.
It was not that long ago when the only viable, secure mobile option for a range of applications was the BlackBerry. We now have lots of smartphone options.
Thankfully, only a few companies have adopted BYOD policies, and perhaps they are not so sure any more that they have done the right thing.
This is not to say that BYOD will never take off; quite the contrary, I think it's a great idea. But it is all about timing and how it all came about.
The first spark was lit by the consumerisation of IT. Ten years ago, the options for businesses were straightforward: you could have mobile phones for voice calls, and ones you could make voice calls on and send and receive email.
The second thing was companies trying to reduce costs by offering an allowance to the employee, minimising the cost of support.
Many people have different views which nevertheless have some merit. But people are not talking about the realities of mobile voice and data usage or how to actually put the theory into practice. This needs to happen.
Stuart Cordingley is head of channel at Fusion Mobile
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