Dell Survey: Impact of BYOD

According to a Dell Quest Software survey, IT executives are able to gauge the level of organizational maturity with BYOD strategies already being used, and are also able to realize and plan for problems and benefits. The findings from the survey reveal that 70 percent of companies believe that there is potential for BYOD to improve work processes, and 59 percent state that without BYOD, their company would be at a disadvantage. 

Around 1,500 IT decision makers were questioned, ranging from countries such as the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Australia, Singapore, India and around Beijing. All expressed their optimism surrounding BYOD and the ability to make corporate gains. Additionally, they stated that companies would be at a competitive disadvantage without it. Some key results from the survey:

• BYOD will only be able to distribute large benefits if the rights and needs of different users are understood, say three quarters of those polled. Seventeen percent of respondents state that organizations utilizing BYOD can manage devices better and understand the empowerment of employees.
  
   
• More flexible working hours, encouragement of creativity, speed innovation and the facilitation of teamwork and collaboration are four personal gains identified in the results.

Furthermore, the greatest achievements are also expected to come from companies who have a mature BYOD system in place. Beijing, interestingly, was the most optimistic in anticipating gains. Other useful and constructive information pertaining to BYOD (from the survey results) were:

•  The clear definition of roles and the user community into a central database, tracking and support of the mobility level of each user, and deployment of applications to users based on their role in the company are all enabled through strong BYOD strategies in companies.
  
  
• Significant and positive impact for (data management and security) companies is a user-centric strategy, employee productivity and customer satisfaction. Seventy-four percent noted improved employee productivity and seventy percent saw an increase in the response times of customers.
  
  
• Companies utilizing BYOD noted better employee productivity, more efficient customer response times and improved operations.
  
  
• BYOD-mature companies are less likely to suffer setbacks; a quarter of this group experience none at all.

Around half of all respondents commented on the vast changes in IT and/or business culture at their companies.

The CIO of Dell Software Group, Carol Fawcett, said: “In my previous role as CIO of Quest Software, our IT empowered nearly 4,000 employees across 60 offices in 23 countries to use their preferred mobile devices whether they were phones, tablets, or non-standard laptops to do their jobs.”

She added: “Instead of worrying about their devices, we focused on enabling access to the apps and data needed by the appropriate individuals regardless of device. We found this approach allowed us to be much more strategic and enabled us to focus on our biggest BYOD problems: security, access rights and data leakage. The results of this latest BYOD survey reinforce the importance of putting users first in order to develop the most effective policies and turn BYOD into a long-term, sustainable business benefit.” (CY) Link