Businesses that are slow to support BYOD or constrained by a device-centric approach may deal with greater challenges, including the risk of being left behind from a competitive standpoint, according to Dell Quest Software.
Its recent global BYOD study, which interviewed 1485 senior IT decision makers across: the US, UK, France, Germany, India, Spain, Italy, Australia, Singapore and Beijing, found that about 70 per cent of companies said BYOD can improve their work processes and help them work better in the future.
The US, Beijing and Australia represented the top three countries that encourage BYOD, while France, Germany and the UK are the bottom three in providing the support.
The report also showed 59 per cent of respondents said to be at a competitive disadvantage without BYOD.
However, three quarters of those polled stated BYOD can only deliver massive benefits if the specific needs and rights of each user are understood, while only 17 per cent of organisations encourage BYOD and actively manage any device employees wish to use.
According to Dell Software Group enterprise mobility solutions director, Roger Bjork, there are dramatic changes in the way users interact with technology on their personal devices and the critical role BYOD plays in transforming business and IT culture.
“This global survey confirms what we have long suspected—companies that embrace a user-focused approach to BYOD may reap the biggest rewards, face the fewest obstacles and deliver real and immediate value in terms of greater efficiency, productivity and competitive advantage,” he said.
Other findings from the study include:
- As BYOD strategies mature and companies move beyond just managing devices to focus on users and applications, they reap bigger rewards and experience fewer setbacks.
- Companies with mature BYOD programs are most likely to achieve the most benefits – Beijing was the most optimistic in reporting potential gains.
- Companies who embraced BYOD programs experienced improved employee productivity, faster customer response times and improved operational efficiencies.
- 56 per cent of respondents said BYOD has completely changed their IT culture and 54 per cent said it changed their business culture within their organisations.
- The two technology areas most commonly implemented first for BYOD are desktop virtualisation and mobile device management (MDM).
