Can COPE Overtake BYOD?

The word on the street says that Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is here to stay, but there is a new rumor going around that BYOD might just be a phase after all. This phase will be replaced by a more convenient and modern version with the new wireless management concept known as “corporate-owned personally-enabled,” or COPE for short. According to some sources, this transition could happen sooner rather than later.

Essentially, COPE is a plan a company can make with a wireless management firm in order to obtain smartphones for their employees. COPE is different from the current process used by companies who distribute corporate-purchased phones to employees.

The director of Bluefish Wireless Management and MOBI Wireless Management, Brandon Hampton, explains how COPE is different from current operations: “Traditional corporate liable programs create support challenges and, without the right technology, billing and cost challenges. The difference lies in the support system that is introduced. By off loading the support burden to a mobility management company, the organization eliminates the cost of providing day-to-day tier one support. It also introduces a partner that is an expert at supporting multiple operating systems and multiple carriers. This expertise allows the organization to offer more flexibility to its users in the form of an increase in the number of devices and carriers they allow into the environment. Finally, by introducing technology designed to manage procurement, reporting, billing and cost allocation the corporation can ensure lower costs with this increased flexibility.”

Essentially, this means the employers can offer a wider variety of phones to employers, including different carriers and operating systems. The success of this method is based on the belief that employees are happier when they have more choices. At the end of the day, when using COPE, the employees shoulder a portion of the cost based on the plan decided by the company, and the company is able to manage the information exchange as they deem appropriate.

By allowing employees to bring their personal mobile devices into the workplace, the company must ensure that they put proprietary software, such as mobile device management (MDM), on all of their personal devices. If not handled appropriately, MDM can make employees suspicious as it allows employers to track the phone’s location. To avoid these issues of privacy, employees could opt to have a different device solely for work that would be mostly paid by the company but still completely managed by the employee.

According to Hampton, “COPE addresses the privacy issues because it is still a corporate liable device” and, he continues, “mobility policies address the issues involving personal information by ensuring that the end users are aware that, ultimately, the data on that device is owned by the organization.”

In order to adopt COPE into the workplace, the mobility management provider works as a partner with the business to assist in the acquisition and management of the mobile device that the company wishes to use with the employees. The mobile device is supported directly through the provider, which gets rid of frustrations involving carriers or phone manufacturers. When an employee leaves, the data stays secure within the company’s data and the device can be used again. The COPE process is more practical than the currently trending BYOD because it cuts out the responsibility of attempting to manage large numbers of personally owned mobile devices. (RP) Link