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Businesses who employ a Bring Your Own Device policy can save up to £6 million a year, a survey suggests.
The study, conducted by Samsung, found that the 17 per cent yearly saving wasn’t the only benefit of BYOD – with almost half (46 per cent) reporting enhanced worker productivity thanks to the strategy.
Despite this, the efficiency may come at a cost – 97 per cent of the companies said that BYOD has been responsible for a security breach during the last two years, or that they expected it would have resulted in a breach had it been allowed. Only 14 per cent of those allowing BYOD updated their security accordingly, with less than a tenth (8 per cent) planning to update to reflect the change of device usage.
Over half (52 per cent) of European companies were found to have implemented a BYOD policy, with 56 per cent of UK businesses with over 1,000 employees promoting the option. However, among firms offering BYOD, less than a third (30 per cent) of workers currently take advantage of the scheme, but this number is expected to rise by seven per cent in the next two years.
“Our research makes clear that there are major benefits for organisations who allow employees to use their own mobile devices for work,” said Graham Long, Vice President of the Enterprise Business Team at Samsung Electronics.
“As well as operating cost savings, businesses stand to improve employee engagement through embracing the opportunities of mobile working through smartphones, tablets and laptops, either through BYOD or ‘Choose Your Own Device’ policies.”
“But our analysis also highlights the dangerous threat to corporate stability that BYOD poses. The potential to lose customer data and other confidential information through mobile devices shows how threatening BYOD could be for many organisations. It’s crucial that businesses ensure that enterprise mobility strategy has a highly secure infrastructure as its foundation, together with effective and clear user policy guidelines that are implemented consistently.”
Image of smartphone and tablet courtesy of Shutterstock.co.uk
