What are the benefits of implementing a BYOD policy?
Basically the benefits of implementing a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy fall into 3 main areas: cost, productivity and employee morale. Let’s look at each of these in turn.
Cost
Implementing a BYOD policy delivers savings to organizations by reducing the overall cost of having to purchase mobile devices. Rather than having to buy all the hardware and service contracts themselves, a BYOD policy moves these costs to the employee, with the company only paying for what is used for business purposes.
Research by PC World suggests that this could save around $80 per month, per user. You would think that passing this cost to the employee would be a barrier to the introduction of a BYOD policy. But, research by Good Technology State Report has shown that 50% of companies with a BYOD policy, which requires employees to cover all the costs, say the employees are happy to do so.
The final cost saving links in to the second area – productivity. There have been many studies on the time that can be saved by employees. These range from 47 minutes per day, through to 240 hours per year . Converted to cash, this could mean productivity savings of between $300 and $1,300 per year for each employee, dependent on their job role.
Productivity
Research by Intel revealed that IT managers rank increased personal productivity as the highest expectation of implementing a BYOD, but why is this? One suggested reason is the user’s ability to satisfy their psychosocial needs at work, which leads to more investment of the self.
Implementing a BYOD policy enables flexibility for employees with regard to both the time and place they do their work, allowing them to be more productive outside the usual limiting 9-5 workday and work-constraining geographical locations. The limits of office settings and hours are removed. For example, employees can check work emails whilst on holiday or edit a presentation while on the train home. Some managers expect this to be the most significant BYOD benefit.
One study found that 14% of employees connected to a corporate resource outside of their standard working hours, and 22% used a mobile phone to check their corporate emails before they went to bed.
Employee Morale
The final benefit of a BYOD policy is increased employee morale. Apart from the flexibility previously outlined, a study by Accenture found that employees have higher levels of happiness and a better relationship with IT when they are given the option to choose which device they feel most comfortable with.
