BYOD may save companies money

With the emergence of the "Bring Your Own Device" trend, mobile device management has been at the forefront of IT departments' concerns. IT pros will likely be called upon to continue to innovate and execute MDM strategies, as it emerges that BYOD saves businesses money.

According to NetworkWorld, companies are now beginning to offer stipends to employees who use their own mobile devices for work purposes. Chicago-based design firm Holly Hunt has adopted the policy, and a company spokesperson, Neil Goodrich, told the source he feels employees are happy with the new policy. If employees are in a role where they are issued a corporate BlackBerry and would rather use their own mobile device, they receive stipends to pay costs associated with the device. According to Goodrich, this policy has saved the company about 5 percent in cellular costs.

Despite the company allowing its employees to use their own mobile devices, employees are required to sign an agreement that the company is allowed to access the personal device of the user. The company uses MDM software that is loaded on employees' smartphones and tablets, the source reported.

NetworkWorld also cited a survey of 688 information and security managers conducted by the Ponemon Institute, in which 17 percent of the respondents said more than 75 percent of the organization's employees use personal mobile devices in the workplace. In addition, another 20 percent said more than half of workers in their business use their own device.

According to Aberdeen Group, the costs related to BYOD devices, stipends and telecom aren't as simple as they seem. Companies might end up paying more for employees to use their personal devices than they would supplying them with company phones. According to a mobile security expert, enterprise deployment can be highly optimized through rate plans, contract negotiations and ongoing cost management practices. Also, employees would have to fill out expense reports related to using their own devices, which could each cost close to $30 to process, making the price of BYOD potentially higher.

"There's no vendor in the telecom management expense management space that has come up with an elegant approach to aggregate BYOD billing," Aberdeen analyst Andrew Borg said. "Bills are getting disaggregated because of BYOD."

According to a report from Pew Internet and American Life Project, close to 90 percent of Americans now own some type of mobile device or computerized gadget. With more companies encouraging employees to use their own mobile devices to save money, more employees may adopt the policy in order to save themselves money, as well. With these incentives in place, it may only be a matter of time before issues such as billing aggregation are solved, and BYOD becomes a standard business practice.