Is the BYOD revolution over?

Is the BYOD Revolution Over?

26th June 2014

Two to three years ago, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) was THE hot topic. IT Managers were giving it to their users clamors to use their own devices at work. In many occasions this was the result of Execs wanting to use their iPads and iPhones at work.

All of a sudden a BYOD policy was required to allow all users to use their own devices. FDs thought it would decrease costs – as the company would no longer have to fork out on mobile devices for the employees.

Overlay technology rapidly sprung up to attempt to provide the degrees of control that legacy products such as, cough, Blackberry had delivered. None of these came cheap. Not all of them worked very well. Problems of data security, and data loss prevention started to rear their ugly heads – users were storing sensitive company data on their personal devices.

Slowly, but surely, conversations with our clients have uncovered that the tide seems to be turning. No longer is an assumption that a business NEEDS a BYOD policy automatic. The cost saving myth has been torpedoed. By the time overlay management products and solutions are implemented, the numbers just don’t really look attractive. The security issues are a head ache. Users started losing devices with company data on them – and remotely wiping a user’s iPhone is not something that a business can automatically mandate.

As with all things in IT, sooner or later, the wheel turns full circle. Blackberry won’t be back any time soon (if ever),  but users having to use company issued devices looks like it is coming back round again.

 

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