BYOD gaining momentum in the enterprise

Hester Gras

There is growing need within the enterprise to communicate with employees who use their own mobile device. Many companies and organizations  are now supporting “BYOD” (bring your own device) policies. This accounts for the wide variety and numbers of mobile devices in the workplace, Forrester’s latest report on mobile adoption in the enterprise found. For example, 70% of tablet users got to pick their own, while only 15% of companies issued the tablets directly and 13% had to choose it from a pre-approved list. In terms of smartphones, those numbers were 67%, 15% and 15%, respectively.

Forrester’s report says that 66% of employees now use two or more devices every day, including desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets. A smaller, but notable 12% percent said they now use tablets at work. That’s still far fewer than the 50% who report only using a desktop, or the 82% who use a desktop alone or alongside other devices.

Meanwhile, 55% of organizations stated that supporting a larger number of smartphones was a high or critical priority over the next 12 months, while 52% said the same of supporting tablets like Apple’s iPad. A remarkable 16% of workers said they use four devices at work.

Forrester says that 54% of organizations are now focused on developing a comprehensive policy to support employees bringing their own devices. With the numbers above, though, it seems that there are many more workers picking their own tablets and phones than their organizations with an “official” policy.

Another interesting figure from today’s report: 18% of organizations are implementing corporate application stores. These stores offer employees line-of-business mobile apps that address the needs of the sales force, help desk, supply chain, logistics, and inventory management teams. In other organizations, support for apps found in the consumer-facing mobile app stores from Apple, Google, RIM and Samsung may be supported instead.

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