Viability ofBring -Your–Own-Computer (BYOC)Programs

June 222011

The confluence of powerful hand held devices, and a broadband network at home has created the desire for employees to expect the same level of connectedness in the enterprise space/workplace. Businesses are feeling the pressure to develop a hybrid support approach that also includes Gen Y and Gen Z workers, who are technology savvy and would like to use these devices in the workplace. What is un-clear is how some of the programs aimed at integrating users own devices will work with the existing IT/framework and this paper attempts to provide a balanced approach to analyze the problem and propose a solution.

By: Masaf Dawood

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Executive Summary

The wide spread consumerization of IT has created a demand for personal devices to be connected to the corporate networks and used in the workplace. This is on the heels of new generation of workers who have grown up with the social media and are savvy with the usage of such tools/devices. Enterprises recognize this trend and, Bring-your-own-computer to the workplace “BYOC”, programs are being piloted to assess the viability of the concept and address any issues as a result. This introduces management challenges in terms of divergent requirements of corporate vs. employee owned devices. The program requires a careful analysis and review of the target environment and user demographics to tailor a specific program to meet the business needs.

A carefully blended approach is needed, that manages the changing demographics in the workplace with the plethora of new computing devices availability to address the data integrity and security needs. This research note addresses the issues, facing corporate IT departments in the process of implementing BYOC programs, and outlines an approach that could assess the viability of such programs.

According to J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Markowitz tablet revenues will rise to$24.9 billion in 2011 (up from $10.2 billion this year) and that they’ll hit $34.1 billion in 2012. The iPad, which will make up for 89.4 percent of tablet revenues this year, will still account for a significant portion of total tablet revenues in the next few years. In 2011, he predicts the iPad will account for 71.6 percent of tablet revenue, and by 2012 it will still lead with 61.4 percent.

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What is Bring-Your-Own-Computer “BYOC” ?

The term Bring-Your-Own-Computer to work (BYOC) refers to the employee owned computers connecting to the corporate networks. The devices are employee owned (purchased and provisioned) and employee is responsible for the device subscription and associated services. The connectivity to the corporate network enables the employee to access application and infrastructure resources on-demand, with the convenience of a familiar and preferred user interface. The key differentiatorin usage of corporate vs. employee owned device is the user preference for the employee owned device. The employee affinity for the device is driven in part by device interface and the built-in eco systems of apps and services.

While the desktops, and laptops has been around for over a quarter century the tablets and smart phones are relatively new arrivals, but they are growing steadily and swiftly. Laptop shipments eclipsed desktop shipments and now the mobile devices are taking the enterprise and consumer world by a storm. See the mobile devices growth chart below from RBC capital markets.

Desktops Laptops

Tablets SmartPhones

BYOD

Devices

An IDC study forecasts annual mobile app downloads to increase from 10.9 billion in 2010 to nearly 76.9 billion in 2014 as developers create apps for virtually every aspect of a mobile user's personal and business lives. In addition to booming adoption of smart phones around the world, new connected device categories including media tablets, eReaders, portable media players, consumer electronics, TVs, automobiles, and eventually even PCs will all contribute to the enormous growth of mobile apps.

"Mobile app developers will 'appify' just about every interaction you can think of in your physical and digital worlds. The extension of mobile apps to every aspect of our personal and business lives will be one of the hallmarks of the new decade with enormous opportunities for virtually every business sector.”

Scott Ellison IDC - VP, Mobile and Connected Consumer Platforms

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Demand Driver # 1 : The Appification of Board room and Family room

The rapid rise of mobile computing power with the widespread and persistent availability of wireless networks has influenced the computing habits of current and future employees alike. The “C” levelexecutives usually are technology agnostic, but have flocked to the ipad and other tablet devices for applications such as email, mobile web /news, social networking and updating their corporate blogs amongst other things. The convenience, user-friendliness, and the penchant for the ever updating news feeds, social interactions etc that we like fits with the information age lifestyle and the mobile devices provide the medium with little or no effort/expense. The usage of the mobile computing devices at home and for leisure far exceeds the business usage – however the business uses and applications are catching up. The connected consumer at home is fully conversant with the tools and technologies and constantly is evaluating the tools, offerings and new services. The velocity of downloads has taken the most optimists by storm and apple apps store has crossed 5B downloads last year. This demonstrates the enormous demand and an unsatisfying appetite for consuming more of these apps. The key driver for productivity in the personal spaces and spilling over to the corporate space is the appification and or proliferation of mobile apps running on employee owned devices.

Demand Driver # 2: Workplace or Workspace – what the heck is it…

The acceptance of the remote worker or tele-worker in the workplace is a credentialed activity and routinely people work remotely to provide same services as they would do if they were on-site. Companies have resorted to shared cubicles, in this age of cost cutting to trim necessary overheads including expensive downtown real estate. The benefits to employee are zero or no travel costs and more productive time with the flexibility of their own schedule. Essentially workplace has changed to workspace in terms of the ability to connect and perform the same productivity tasks as if on-site. This is also enabled in part by the mobile devices and or laptops using traditional secured connection protocols.

Benefits to the enterprise

The benefits to an enterprise are a combination of “Soft” (motivational) and “Hard” ($ value) savings that will evolve over time as the implementation matures and scope increases to cover the entire set of employees (vs. subset). The immediate value realization may be in terms of employee satisfaction and empowerment that could lead to higher productivity in the workspace and foster innovation. Some of the potential IT service benefits are listed in the table below:

Reduced Cost of IT equipment

Reduced IT support requirements(less tickets)

Flexibility Less Field Services

Reduced Software License Costs

Single/Consolidated Image set

Enterprise refresh program savings

Less On-site support

Heterogeneous environment

Innovation Reduced Depot services Employee Empowerment

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What about IT folks…?

The IT folks are concerned, nervous and unsure of the potential and the associated risk BYOC programs can bring in the enterprise. After all, the devices are owned by the employees and when the employee connects the device to corporate networks – is against the conventional IT wisdom and policies and procedures. The employee may run the risk of data theft, corruption, loss and or other security policy violations. It is turning upside down the traditional view of a corporate device. In the face of these concerns and un-resolved problems, the technology is being brokered downstream to IT with its sponsors in the boardroom and supporters in the cubicles. With the current devices we have today that have USB and CDrom’s and are connected to the internet, the potential of downloads/uploads and possibility of corruption/data loss exists. The biggest fear is around three areas - “lack of control” “service assurance”, as well “data privacy and security”. We manage and improve continuously to provide a better, safer and robust IT environment. Historically connectivity is based on managing the risk associated with these interactions using the standardization of the devices, operating systems, and tools that has led us to evolve to this level of collaboration. Now it seems we may be on cusp of the next generation of productivity in the enterprise and employee owned/mobile devices may be acting as a catalyst to ignite this. The perceived and real risks needs to be managed by crafting a program to pilot the BYOC program and stress testing the proposed approach as well learning from the pilot outcomes in terms of key areas of concerns. However before the pilot is considered – we need to make sure there is a game plan for management of employee owned mobile devices.

Do you have an MDM Strategy….

The enterprise needs to have a Mobile Device Management Strategy that provides provisioning, configuration, security, policy management, and software distribution, for smart phones, tablets and other mobile devices. The underlying architecture should take into account the specific and unique needs of the business in terms of regulatory, security and data privacy requirements. Some of the other core capabilities that are required are remote wipe, device tracking, voice and data usage, support and troubleshooting functions. The landscape of vendors is growing with some of the core capabilities maturing in this space while the additional capabilities are being developed. The capabilities should include management layer for managing multiple mobile device operating systems to include ios, Windows, and Android.

A risk managed approach

In order to test the viability and feasibility of BYOC program in an enterprise – a careful approach is needed that manages the value against the potential deployment risk. Based on the demand at the enterprise level – the implementation team may develop a “Proof of Concept” strategy to stress test the viability of such a program. The selected employees should be voluntarily participating in the program and would generally be technology savvy and motivated to see this thru and live thru the growing pains. The focus should be on developing the required policies and procedures that facilitate the adoption of BYOC devices into the workspace while providing the necessary checks and balances IT needs to manage the risk associated with the introduction of these devices. The service delivery model of such devices should also be tested and options evaluated during the course of the pilot program.

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The following points highlight the key steps in implementing the proposed program:

a) Identify the appropriate worker/employee to participateo Not all employees would be suitable or open to participation. o Identify the employee based on the request/need and profile

b) Define the overall roadmap of BYOC programo Lay out the timeline for initial POC “Proof of concept” o Identify the pilot duration and business unit’s participationo Draft an enterprise wide program availability (subject to poc, pilot findings)

c) Implement the MDM strategyo Security managemento Policy management o Inventory managemento Software distribution and service management

d) Define device requirements o 3 year support contract/24 hours loaner in case of breakdowno Antivirus (AV)update enabledo Partitioning Ability o Software distribution and service management capability

d) Define service management model o Define the support model o Define the SLA’s o Solution for Self-Serve (shift left)o Define the roles and responsibilities (RACI)

e) Findings o Update the processes and procedures based on the findingso Document lessons learnedo Execute the next steps

Conclusion

The viability of BYOC devices to work is a viable solution that holds the promise of greater collaboration and more enterprise productivity in the workspace. The continued proliferation of handheld devices will drive the demand for integration with the corporate networks. Enterprises need to be ready for such employee requests and can get a head start if they pilot a program with specific objectives and criteria in mind.