Most of the costs companies incur by letting employees choose their own devices are not associated with the devices themselves. Companies are spending much more supporting and securing the devices, according to Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group. The global consulting group recently surveyed 600 IT managers working at companies with at least 1,000 employees across 18 industries including construction, finance, healthcare, telecommunications and media. Ninety-five percent of those surveyed allow employees to bring their own devices to work, 84% support some of those devices and 36% support all devices.
Joseph Bradley, GM of the Cisco group that conducted the survey, says BYOD results in productivity gains of $300 to $1,300 per year per employee, and that the primary costs offsetting those savings are not the hardware. “Most folks gravitate to the shiny object,” he says. “They ask who pays for the device – employee or employer.” But Bradley says the numbers show that how the device is supported, updated and secured are much more important questions from a cost perspective. “Eighty-six percent of the costs associated with BYOD are outside the device,” says Bradley. His survey found that 47% of the costs were in supporting the device and 38% were in IT operations and in keeping the software on the device up to date.
Bradley says the cost of support can often be reduced by taking advantage of the fact that employees have chosen their devices and therefore know more about them than they might know about a company-issued device. He says Cisco implemented an online support community for the PCs and Macintosh laptops that employees bring to work, and that 98% of workers’ “help desk” questions are resolved there, usually by co-workers.
Cisco’s survey found that IT managers plan to devote 20% of their IT budgets to mobility initiatives by 2014, up from 11% in 2011. 76% said they viewed BYOD as somewhat positive or extremely positive for their companies. Bradley said there was widespread agreement among respondents that the BYOD train has left the station and is not coming back. “IT managers know the faucet is on,” he said, “and it’s not something you can turn off.”
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