The IT managers are balancing security and support concern with the potential to reap significant cost and productivity benefits from BYOD trends.

BYOD was also found to be a gateway to greater business benefits—over three-fourths (76 percent) of IT leaders surveyed categorized BYOD as somewhat or extremely positive for their companies. Managers are acknowledging the need for a more holistic approach, one that is scalable and addresses concerns for mobility, security, virtualization and network policy management, the report says.

Additional survey findings include:

·         95 percent of organizations allow employee-owned devices in some way, shape or form in the workplace.

o   84 percent not only allow employee-owned devices, but offer some level of support.

o   36 percent provide full support for employee-owned devices.

·         Mobility and device use are on the rise: 78 percent of U.S. white-collar employees use a mobile device for work purposes, and 65 percent require mobile connectivity to do their jobs.

o   On average, mobility initiatives will consume 20 percent of IT budgets in 2014, compared to 17 percent in 2012.

·         Most IT leaders (76 percent) consider consumerization “somewhat” or “extremely” positive for their companies.

o   The top two perceived BYOD benefits, according to the survey respondents, were improved employee productivity (more opportunities to collaborate) and greater job satisfaction.

·         Employees want to work their way.

o   40 percent of respondents cited “device choice” as the employees’ top BYOD priority.

o   Employees’ second BYOD priority was the desire to perform personal activities at work and work activities during personal time.

o   Employees want to bring their own applications to work: 69 percent said that unapproved applications—especially social networks, cloud-based email and instant messaging—are more prevalent today than two years ago.

o   Employees are willing to invest to improve their work experience. According to the Cisco, their employees pay an average of $600 out-of-pocket for devices that give them more control over their work experience.

·         BYOD benefits add up: Cisco estimates that the annual benefits from BYOD range from $300 to $1,300 per employee, depending on his or her job role.

In terms of security, BYOD does become more complex.

·         Respondents cited security/privacy and IT support for multiple mobile platforms as top BYOD challenges.

·         Device proliferation requires new policies and approaches to control cost. According to the Cisco IBSG analysis, only 14 percent of BYOD costs are hardware-related.

Desktop virtualization is also on the rise, especially for business continuity, so workers can access applications though multiple locations and devices; employee productivity; and IT costs.