BYOD Checkup: Where We're At

For many companies, Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is a concept more in theory than reality. Those that have implemented BYOD have generally done so at the behest of management hoping to top the crest of the latest industry wave. The general order is that if there's a lot of coverage on a particular topic, it must be popular and everyone must be doing it. If it reads well in an InFlight magazine, well, its truth.

BYOD is not really a new phenomenon. For years, IT have used both company-supplied and personal devices to access network resources to aid end-users who like to work around the clock and to monitor and manage the corporate infrastructure for patching, software distribution, and other proactive tasks. And, I've seen IT have to support users trying to work from home using their personal computers because they either spilled a little wine on the company laptop, or they accidentally left their smartphone in a cab on the last sales trip.

But, these days, BYOD is a more focused, more serious concept due to the number of consumer mobile devices being carried around by business workers. The idea is that somehow allowing an end-user to connect to the corporate network with an iPhone or Android device makes them happier.

Still there are many aspects of BYOD that have either stalled adoption in companies, or have organizations feeling a bit timid about implementing completely.

We've covered BYOD quite a bit here at Windows IT Pro, and while there are recent stories of BYOD adoption and non-adoption rates, I felt it's a good time for a checkup since nothing extremely new has come to light. That's usually an indication that either a) the industry topic now has full adoption, b) the topic didn't really pan out, or c) new, more critical projects pushed the topic further down the list.

So, really, this post is to spur further discussion around BYOD, and to continue to get a feel for how BYOD is being accepted in the IT Pro community.

Take a quick moment to let us know how BYOD planning and implementation is going for you: