Debunking the Over-Hype of BYOD

BYOD: A movement that streamlined communications and empowered employees. Well, perhaps not.

We believe that Bring Your Own Device may well go down in history as one of the most overused and overhyped terms in business jargon history. And here we explain why, and beyond this… what may be next for the workplace that is truly forward-thinking and harnessing the innovations of tomorrow.

Getting to the surprisingly simple nitty gritty of most BYOD schemes

Let’s not talk in corporate-filled jargon, and let’s define what most BYOD schemes really are and the (rather few, and rather basic) tasks that they are used for. To this end, for the most part, the majority of BOYD schemes simply consist of: always on-the-go and accessible emails, the use of and sharing of documents (wherever and whenever), the partaking in the odd conference call or two and communication that is made lightning fast (with the help of an IM program).

When all’s said and done this isn’t the technology harnessing of the next century. This is business as usual. Only always on the go. This is why it’s time to debunk the hype of BYOD and recognize it for what it is.

Goodbye BYOB. Hello CYOD slash EOD hybrid

It’s predicted by trusted industry insight body, Gartner, that by 2020 there’ll be in excess of 60% of the workforce (across the world, no less) that use their own device for at least some work tasks. However this isn’t the same as saying that 60% of people will be part of a fully-fledged BYOD scheme. And what’s more it seems that from the very start that BOYD neglected to truly fulfil its promise. Most specifically it was a movement that appeared to completely neglect key enterprise examples and industry segments: from defence based bodies through to construction companies, BYOD offered little and delivered even less, with specialist applications and capabilities by such industries seriously lacking on what were, after all, just personal devices.

Specialized enterprise devices

A further complication to the traditional BYOD scene is the range of devices that any one enterprise can support. And with new models coming from Apple, Samsung and every brand in-between on an ever more frequent basis companies are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with a list of allowed devices that is even half way up-to-date.

The future: CYOD: Choose your own device / EOD: Enterprise Owned Device

CYOD / EOD schemes promise to overcome many of the limitations of the standard BYOD scheme, and what’s more specialist enterprise devices are also promising much in the way of improved security. Contrary to BYOD schemes in which, amongst other security holes, defy email security best practices to no end.

For the industry where specialist devices are required (such as upon the average construction site, where workers could benefit from specialist wireless communication provided through robust devices) CYOD / EOD seems set to truly meet their needs in a way that BYOD never could.

Stop focusing upon the over-hyped BYOD scene, and concentrate on what CYOD and EOD can bring to the workplace of tomorrow.

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