Photo Credit: Sean MacEntee
As the BYOD phenomenon continues to spread nearly three quarters of employees are already using their own devices in the workplace, according to research by Equanet.
Yet, despite the large number of employees in the UK bringing their own device to work, only one in seven companies actually have a BYOD policy.
Over 75% of businesses say that personal devices increase productivity in the workplace but nearly 25% of businesses have been forced to update their IT equipment due to differences in performance compared to personally owned devices.
"Personally owned devices are often faster and more efficient than the IT equipment businesses can afford to provide," said Phil Birbeck, managing director of Equanet. "Recent advances in smartphones and tablets have revolutionised the way we work and blurred the distinction between social and office usage. As a result, the popularity of personally owned devices has been rapid and inevitable."
Only 14% of businesses have established a BYOD scheme, despite its popularity among employees.
The most popular devices brought into the workplace were found to be iPhones (81%) iPads (71%) laptops (34%) and Blackberries (19%).
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Over 50% of businesses were found to be unsupportive of the BYOD phenomenon. Another 66% don’t contribute towards purchasing personally owned devices with 43% of that amount saying they have no intention to do so in the future.
However 28% of businesses said they intend to contribute to the purchase of personal employee devices but have not yet formalized BYOD guidelines.
"We’ve found that 29 per cent of businesses have actually saved money from their IT budget by implementing BYOD policies," said Birbeck. "A structured BYOD scheme, integrated by IT solutions experts, is vital for modern businesses as it standardises the equipment used in the workplace, keeps employees happy and harnesses the array of technological innovations found in smartphones and tablets for the business."
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