CompTIA Study: BYOD Implementation Is Slow, Despite Hype
By Ally Orlando, contributing writer
By now, most businesses have heard the buzz surrounding bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiatives. However, many of them aren’t buying in. A recent CompTIA survey finds that 51 percent of large enterprise firms don’t allow employees to bring their own devices to work.
CompTIA’s Third Annual Trends in Enterprise Mobility study reported that although many businesses continue to push for mobility, they are facing challenges and have yet to realize the full potential of such technologies. Conducted in March 2014 with a survey of 400 U.S. IT and business executives, the study examined their setting or executing of mobility policies and processes among organizations and end users.
A key finding is that businesses that have adopted BYOD thus far have done so slowly or partially — only 3 percent of medium and large firms and 9 percent of small firms have converted to a full BYOD policy.
Despite these numbers, mobility is still top of mind for many businesses. More than 70 percent of the survey’s 400 respondents said they are attempting to augment their mobility efforts. However, only 30 percent of organizations said they have formalized their mobility policies and only 8 percent said increased mobile or tablet offerings have had an effect on their workflows.
Experts at CompTIA suggest complexity is the main problem for larger firms. What is meant to make life easier could do the opposite — implementing an enterprise-wide BYOD policy involves paperwork, employee guidelines, safety precautions, IT support, and possibly hidden costs.
“Integrating devices is also the top challenge for the largest firms, but the issue is one of complexity rather than lack of resources,” the association states in a news release. “The sheer numbers of employees and devices makes integration a much greater undertaking. The same is true for support.”
Smaller firms struggle with a lack of resources. Although most mobile devices are intuitive, the additional resources needed to support mobility at the enterprise level are not. Of those responding to the survey, 45 percent say their employees have trouble with these technologies.
“Mobile devices get used heavily in employees’ personal lives, but there are enterprise aspects such as encryption, proper security settings, and enterprise apps that require further and ongoing education,” explains Seth Robinson, CompTIA director of technology analysis.