Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has become one of the most influential trends that has or will touch each and every IT organization. The term has come to define a megatrend occurring in IT that requires sweeping changes to the way devices are used in the workplace.
What is BYOD? Does it mean employees pay for their own devices they use for work? Possibly, but the BYOD trend means much more. It is about end users being able to use the compute and communication devices they choose to increase productivity and mobility. These can be devices purchased by the employer, purchased by the employee, or both. BYOD means any device, with any ownership, used anywhere.
This paper discusses the how this trend will affect businesses, explores the challenges it creates for IT, and outlines the Cisco® technologies that are part of the solution. Cisco offers a comprehensive architecture to address these challenges, allowing end users the freedom to bring their choice of device to work while still affording IT the controls to ensure security and prevent data loss.
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It seems to me that BYOD is a trend that can't be stopped. While it might make life simpler to separate the personal devices from the corporate devices, the trend of "consumerization of IT" is not going to turn around. Rather, it's a case of if you cant stop the trend, make sure it doesn't hurt you.
Page 12 of the paper (Figure 5 - BYOD Adoption Scenarios) has a very interesting range of approaches that can be taken. I would love to hear from our community as to where you are (and where you see your organization going) in terms of these options.