Although the majority of today’s businesses allow employees to bring their own devices to work, only a third have defined BYOD policies in place.
According to a Network Instruments survey conducted at Interop Las Vegas 2013, 54% of network managers reported end-user experience improved while using mobile devices, while more than 40% said their ability to monitor applications worsened.
The survey findings are based on interviews with 96 network engineers, IT directors and executives. Here are the highlights:
- 95% of respondents have portable devices, and often multiple devices connecting to their corporate network.
- Of these, 97% use laptops, followed by 79% connecting with smartphones, 70% with tablets, while 34% use external USB drives.
- Of the respondents with mobile devices connecting to the company network, only 33% have any official BYOD policy governing the use of personal portable devices; 67% do not.
- Biggest challenges for BYOD include identifying and tracking mobile devices (51%), tracking security vulnerabilities and patches (47%), and troubleshooting portable devices causing problems (42%).
- When allowing users to bring portable devices, 54% reported improved end-user experience, compared to only 8% of end users reporting deteriorating conditions.
- Nearly 41% responded that their ability to monitor application performance worsened after allowing users to connect via their own devices; this is compared to 17% who saw improved monitoring. Similarly, 38% indicated troubleshooting became more difficult after allowing the use of personal devices.
The conclusion is obvious – BYOD is here, but there’s still much to be done to make it work for all parties involved.
[Via: CellularNews, image from Rogers]