[anon(55900)]

Awww, too bad, shouldn't have dropped BlackBerry!

http://m.computerworld.com/s/article/9228944/BYOD_means_soaring_IT_support_costs_for_mobile_dev ices

[sleepngbear]

Imagine that.

RIM enterprise sales people need to pounce on this.

[rdkempt]

In my corporation, our productivity has increased immensely (specifically with mobile workers, but with our in-house guys too) since switching from BlackBerry and our costs have remained similar... except we were able to decommission our BES VM and fire our BES guy. Lol.

It's unfortunate that these statistics don't provide far more information as well as some insight into the corporations' reasons for changing as well as their productivity gains. I have no problem spending an extra thousand dollars a month per employee if they worked twice as efficiently, don't care if that's on smartphones, cocaine, or anything else. So, very curious about the whole picture instead of just one of many results from a solution to a problem with BB they were having.

[Thunderbuck]

In my corporation, our productivity has increased immensely (specifically with mobile workers, but with our in-house guys too) since switching from BlackBerry and our costs have remained similar... except we were able to decommission our BES VM and fire our BES guy. Lol.

It's unfortunate that these statistics don't provide far more information as well as some insight into the corporations' reasons for changing as well as their productivity gains. I have no problem spending an extra thousand dollars a month per employee if they worked twice as efficiently, don't care if that's on smartphones, cocaine, or anything else. So, very curious about the whole picture instead of just one of many results from a solution to a problem with BB they were having.

I guess my question to you is: did you really need a BES in the first place, then?

What did you replace it with? ActiveSync? Might be fine for you, but it doesn't quite cut it for many organizations.

[clvrbas]

In my corporation, our productivity has increased immensely (specifically with mobile workers, but with our in-house guys too) since switching from BlackBerry and our costs have remained similar... except we were able to decommission our BES VM and fire our BES guy. Lol.

It's unfortunate that these statistics don't provide far more information as well as some insight into the corporations' reasons for changing as well as their productivity gains. I have no problem spending an extra thousand dollars a month per employee if they worked twice as efficiently, don't care if that's on smartphones, cocaine, or anything else. So, very curious about the whole picture instead of just one of many results from a solution to a problem with BB they were having.

$1,000 a month extra!?!? That's some serious monies for a line item expense per person... You would have to budget that in, and it would have to be a really strong boost in efficiency for that to pay off. I would have to see more detailed on how that is an investment rather than just spending money.

[katiepea]

i run the enterprise server for a company that switched from BES to BYOD, the staff required has been cut in half and me suggesting BYOD has to date from 2 years ago saved the company almost 250k. sorry, that's the truth.

[skyrocket9]

Staff required? all one of the staff members have been cut in half eh? What were you paying him 500k? lol

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[katiepea]

5 guys, all making around $40k/yr.

[sinsin07]

In my corporation, our productivity has increased immensely (specifically with mobile workers, but with our in-house guys too) since switching from BlackBerry and our costs have remained similar... except we were able to decommission our BES VM and fire our BES guy. Lol.

It's unfortunate that these statistics don't provide far more information as well as some insight into the corporations' reasons for changing as well as their productivity gains. I have no problem spending an extra thousand dollars a month per employee if they worked twice as efficiently, don't care if that's on smartphones, cocaine, or anything else. So, very curious about the whole picture instead of just one of many results from a solution to a problem with BB they were having.

Agreed, Fortune 100 company, seeing the same thing. Executives prefer their IOS devices of BB and are giving them up.

BB's where the devices forced upon Corp. America, and now that there is a choice, people are opting out of BB.

[bk1022]

For small corporations, perhaps it doesn't matter -- especially if most of the employees have a particular brand due to some local franchise partnering with your company to give out discounts.

For corporations with 5K+ employees in multiple locales, BYOD is expensive even if all the company allows is email because they have to support practically every phone under the sun. Employees expect that data costs for "work" related activities not spill over into their own personal plan, and I've already read of disasters where employees have accidentally racked up thousands of dollars in data overages and expect their employer to pay. I can't wait for the first lawsuit where an employee accidentally emails objectionable material to another employee using a "BYOD" phone and sues the company for the error instead of the other way around.

[katiepea]

For small corporations, perhaps it doesn't matter -- especially if most of the employees have a particular brand due to some local franchise partnering with your company to give out discounts.

For corporations with 5K+ employees in multiple locales, BYOD is expensive even if all the company allows is email because they have to support practically every phone under the sun. Employees expect that data costs for "work" related activities not spill over into their own personal plan, and I've already read of disasters where employees have accidentally racked up thousands of dollars in data overages and expect their employer to pay. I can't wait for the first lawsuit where an employee accidentally emails objectionable material to another employee using a "BYOD" phone and sues the company for the error instead of the other way around.

1 exchange policy will work the same across all android and iOS devices.

[berklon]

My company's moving to BYOD.

They crunched the numbers and the savings of not having to pay for each employees BB is HUGE.

[sleepngbear]

From the Wall Street Journal:

BYOD Boosts Mobile Management Costs

Mobile device management costs are expected to rise 48% from 2011 to 2013, largely due to additional IT staff that CIOs must hire to support iPhones, iPads and Android devices that employees are bringing into the office, Osterman Research says. With 41% of the workforce currently using smartphones, full-time employees hired to manage mobile devices increased from a median of 2.9 workers per 1,000 mobile devices in 2011 to 3.6 today, and that number is expected to top 4 employees in 2013. The annual IT labor cost per user was $229 in 2011, and it is expected to hit $294 in 2012 and $339 in 2013.

The phenomenon of BYOD, or �bring-your-own-device,� is driving up the cost of mobile management. Until a few years ago, most corporations deployed RIM�s Blackberry smartphones and used RIM�s software to manage them. But iPhones, iPads and Android devices have become standard gear in many workplaces, forcing CIOs to invest in software and staff to manage updates and security. IBM CIO Jeanette Horan, CIO has addressed the BYOD challenge, complaining that employees� devices are loaded with software her staff can�t control.

Companies are ramping up spending to better manage their mobile technology, said Osterman Research President Michael Osterman. Some 78% of organizations surveyed said they are already using mobile management software. Of the 22% of organizations that have not installed such software, 32% said they will deploy it in 2013, with 24% indicating they will deploy a solution in 2014.

The leading reason for the investment plan? Some 34% of respondents said they feared the loss of corporate data. But Osterman said other BYOD risks include �greater downtime, higher IT costs, regulatory compliance violations and reduced employee productivity.� Osterman polled 117 mid-sized and large organizations to produce the report.

Second article linked to from within above:

BYOD Is a Challenge, Even for IBM

IBM CIO Jeanette Horan may have a department of 5,000 IT staffers at her disposal, but that doesn�t make commanding the company�s �bring your own device policy� any easier. Horan, who called IBM employees �blissfully unaware� about security threats, has enabled her IT staff to remotely wipe smartphones that are lost or stolen and blocks access to applications as varied as Apple�s Siri voice-activated personal assistant and Dropbox�s file-sharing service.

Her approach is laid out in a candid interview with MIT Technology Review, which is worth a look. The key point:

***The trend toward employee-owned devices isn�t saving IBM any money, says Jeanette Horan, who is IBM�s chief information officer and oversees all the company�s internal use of IT. Instead, she says, it has created new challenges for her department of 5,000 people, because employees� devices are full of software that IBM doesn�t control.***

She has also conducted educational surveys to help teach users about what programs are safe. IBM is well equipped to build software to manage mobile devices, but many CIOs will require help. They may choose from among 40 different software vendors that are part of a burgeoning mobile device management sector Gartner said will be worth $500 million in 2012.

Between WSJ and certain posters in this thread, guess who I'm inclined to believe.

[qbnkelt]

5 guys, all making around $40k/yr.

That's the most underpaid IT staff ever.

[recompile]

Between WSJ and certain posters in this thread, guess who I'm inclined to believe.

But... But... My unverifiable personal anecdote MUST completely invalidate the claims made in an article from a well-respected news source!

Further, they MUST be wrong because it doesn't square with my pre-existing beliefs!

(More seriously, who didn't predict the ultimate failure of BYOD?)

[_StephenBB81]

That's the most underpaid IT staff ever.

maybe they are given corporate expense accounts, and company cars, and only work 35h a week

[undone]

But... But... My unverifiable personal anecdote MUST completely invalidate the claims made in an article from a well-respected news source!

Further, they MUST be wrong because it doesn't square with my pre-existing beliefs!

(More seriously, who didn't predict the ultimate failure of BYOD?)

I always thought BYOD was a way for corps to basically wash there hands of 'support' costs. Until of course, they actually have to support said devices.

I can see BYOD working well, as long as you have a 'good luck with that' approach or a small enough user base that it doesnt matter much what they use.

Standardization for devices might be boring, but it sure keeps it 'easier' to manage.

[rdkempt]

From the Wall Street Journal:

BYOD Boosts Mobile Management Costs


Second article linked to from within above:

BYOD Is a Challenge, Even for IBM



Between WSJ and certain posters in this thread, guess who I'm inclined to believe.

You are correct.

Companies are instating a BYOD policy so that they can lose money, productivity, have greater downtime and violate regulatory compliances (the more the better, right?). A little common sense goes a long way.

[recompile]

Companies are instating a BYOD policy so that they can lose money, productivity, have greater downtime and violate regulatory compliances (the more the better, right?).

Companies didn't adopt BYOD because they wanted to spend more money, have greater downtime or callously violate regulations like a moody teenager. They did it because they thought it would save them money.

The point was that BYOD policies did not work out as expected -- like many business fads that have come and gone over the years from Six Sigma to, well, BYOD.

Turns out, as many of the users here expected, that it didn't quite work out so well. My money was on a major security breach. I guess I can't be right all the time

[sleepngbear]

You are correct.

Companies are instating a BYOD policy so that they can lose money, productivity, have greater downtime and violate regulatory compliances (the more the better, right?). A little common sense goes a long way.

They still think off-shoring software development saves them money, too. As a project manager responsible for staffing and budgeting IT development projects, among other things, I can attest that it doesn't.

There are several more reputable sources than this forum's armchair C*O's making these claims, not me. What I will say is that, just like off shore development, there are costs and challenges that companies are not aware of until after they embark down a different road that makes these alternative approaches far less cost saving than they originally thought, and in some cases more costly.

WSJ, Computer World, and real-world market studies vs a couple of nobody's whose sole credentials are their own claims to know everything .... yeah, I could be wrong.

[addicted44]

From the Wall Street Journal:

BYOD Boosts Mobile Management Costs


Second article linked to from within above:

BYOD Is a Challenge, Even for IBM



Between WSJ and certain posters in this thread, guess who I'm inclined to believe.

The WSJ article doesn't necessarily contradict the personal anecdotes. 1) while it stated that MDM costs are going up, it doesn't evaluate any other costs which might be going down. E.g. It says that cost of IT per user is going from 220 to 294 per year. That is $150 over 2 years, which is still cheaper than the subsidized handset cost of $200 every 2 years. Additionally, this allows a lot of companies to not even pay for the service (many give a discount, or pay for the data, but any discount in this area will be a huge saving for the firm).

IBM is a complex company with complex needs. Their case is unique and it is hard to extrapolate their situation to nearly any other company in the world.

[rdkempt]

They still think off-shoring software development saves them money, too. As a project manager responsible for staffing and budgeting IT development projects, among other things, I can attest that it doesn't.

There are several more reputable sources than this forum's armchair C*O's making these claims, not me. What I will say is that, just like off shore development, there are costs and challenges that companies are not aware of until after they embark down a different road that makes these alternative approaches far less cost saving than they originally thought, and in some cases more costly.

WSJ, Computer World, and real-world market studies vs a couple of nobody's whose sole credentials are their own claims to know everything .... yeah, I could be wrong.

I understand that the great thing to blog and write about this year has been "BYOD saving you money? THINK AGAIN!". It's almost as successful and popular as the "RIM is officially DEAD" articles you see every 9 seconds.

Fortunately (in both cases!), these articles are for the most part incorrect or focus around one or two aspects and do not provide the full picture. Sure, throw in some random facts - Yup, RIM lost 180% of everything and BB10 is fake, yup, every BYOD policy cost each company trillions and turned their employees into drooling *******. It does not change a thing, and it's sad to see the regurgitation of such non-sense.

[qbnkelt]

maybe they are given corporate expense accounts, and company cars, and only work 35h a week

Damn.....I could save loads if I give them a Yugo and mod their contract by reducing their hours while maintaining their scope?

DAMN I always knew CB would teach me all kinds of things.

'cuz this is what we pay IT Data management folks.

USAJOBS - Search Jobs

And this is average in the industry for 2012.

http://www.quickcert.com/blog/index....ends-for-2012/

[qbnkelt]

The WSJ article doesn't necessarily contradict the personal anecdotes. 1) while it stated that MDM costs are going up, it doesn't evaluate any other costs which might be going down. E.g. It says that cost of IT per user is going from 220 to 294 per year. That is $150 over 2 years, which is still cheaper than the subsidized handset cost of $200 every 2 years. Additionally, this allows a lot of companies to not even pay for the service (many give a discount, or pay for the data, but any discount in this area will be a huge saving for the firm).

IBM is a complex company with complex needs. Their case is unique and it is hard to extrapolate their situation to nearly any other company in the world.

Why is it unique?

[qbnkelt]

1 exchange policy will work the same across all android and iOS devices.

For basic rudimentary email delivery, it works fine.