What BYOT – Bring Your Own Technology Means for Companies
Global research and advisory firm, Forrester, recently released a report titled “Charting The Rising Tide of Bring-Your-Own Technology” (BYOT). The report focuses on the trend and impact of employees using their own technology for work. Certainly the trend of BYOT means Chief Information Officers of major companies must prepare how to best integrate and protect company systems and infrastructure.
世界的な調査・諮問企業であるForresterは先頃、「BYOTの上昇傾向の明示」と名づけられた報告書を発表した。この報告書では、従業員が仕事を行う上で自身のテクノロジーを用いる傾向とその影響に焦点を置いている。明らかに、BYOTの傾向が強まることで、主要企業のCIO（システム統括者）は、いかに最良の方法をもってシステムを統合させ、企業のシステムとインフラストラクチャーを保護するのか、それらの準備を整えておく必要があると言うことを意味する。
国際的な調査会社である Forresterは最近、「Bring-Your-Own Technology（BYOT）の流行をグラフ化する」という名のレポートを発表した。このレポートは従業員が仕事用に自前の機器を利用する傾向とその影響に焦点を当てている。確かに、BYOTが流行するということは、大きな企業の情報システム担当役員が企業のシステムやインフラを保護し統一性を保つため何らかの対応をしなければならないことを意味する。
When Blackberry was in its prime, many corporate companies issued a Blackberry mobile phone to employees. Everyone wanted one, as it symbolized status, especially the Blackberry Bold. But then the iPhone came along and it truly disrupted how corporate people communicate. It no longer segregated business and personal communication, but instead blurred the line and effectively made it into one in the same thing. In this generation, this is how people want to communicate and do business. That is why employees are increasingly prepared to bring their own devices and software to work to optimize their work flow.
People no longer have to be chained to a desk to work; they can and often should have the freedom to work remotely depending on their work style preference. All they need is a mobile device with internet connection.
Based on a study of 9,912 information workers across 17 countries in Q4 2011, Forrester found that 53% of workforce employees bring their own technology for work purposes, up 5% from Q1 2011 and a reported 61% use their devices for both work and personal use. Technology encompasses personal devices such as tablets or smartphones, websites or internet based services. On the device front, just looking around offices or coffee shops, it’s clear to see workers using smartphones and tablets to present and consume information.
On the internet based service side, the proliferation of cloud based services such as Dropbox for cloud storage or Evernote for document management make it easy to work from anywhere and anytime.
So if workers are using their own personal technology for work, does that mean it’s also a company expense? Forrester identified that “Increasingly, employees are making their own technology purchases for a blend of personal and work use and pushing their firms to purchase new technology to help in their jobs.” This trend in itself creates challenges for companies to account and reimburse for technology related costs. Before people used personal technology for work, it was clear what was and wasn’t a business expense.
従業員が自らのテクノロジーを用いて仕事をしているのであれば、それは企業の経費ととらえられるべきではないのか？Forresterでは、「従業員らは、驚くべき率で、自らのテクノロジー機器を私用・ビジネス用として購入しており、彼らは新たなテクノロジーを企業に購入してもらい仕事の能率を上げようとしている」、と指摘している。この傾向自体は、企業の財務責任を問うものとなっており、またテクノロジー関連の経費の返金問題と化している。仕事用として人々が個人のテクノロジーを使用し始める前、何がビジネス経費であるか、そして何がビジネス経費ではないかの線引きは明確であった。
さて、従業員が仕事用に自前の機器を使う場合、それは会社の経費ということになるのだろうか。Forrester よると「仕事用と私用の両方のために自分で機器を購入したうえ、仕事用として更に会社に対して新しい機器の購入を求める従業員が増えている」という。こういう傾向のために、企業がテクノロジー関連の費用に関して会計処理をしたり従業員へ費用を償還したりすることが難しくなってきている。人々が自前の機器を仕事に使うようになる前は、どれが経費にあたり、どれが経費にあたらないかは明らかであった。
But now, how does a company objectively assess how much is business use and therefore how much should be reimbursed or paid for? Based on its research, Forrester found that Information Workers managed to convince their companies to pay for computer software, desktops and laptops, computer peripherals, smartphones, online services or website subscriptions, tablets, mobile apps, internet access and home phone and internet access. But since many are using such technology for personal use, 63% pay for their own smartphone and 51% for their own netbooks and tablets.
One of the major issues when using personal devices for work purposes is security and privacy. Imagine your employees storing confidential company information such as financial reports, budgets or new product features on their personal devices that can be easily transferred. Arguably it can happen just as easily with a simple USB drive. Companies must figure out how to safeguard confidential company information in the face of the increasing trend to use personal technology.
Another key issue is IT support and management. Companies traditionally have an IT department that deals only with company provided software and hardware issues. But as Forrester rightly points out, as employees use their own devices which span different operating systems such as iOS, Android or Windows; can the IT department scale its resources to handle the different systems? Or should it even be responsible, given that these devices are being heavily used for personal use as well?
Forrester reports that “Most CIOs are still fairly uninvolved with BYOT policies, with only 48% acting as the final decision-maker for IT priorities and only 46% holding decision-making power over IT purchases.” However the trend is virtually unstoppable and CIOs should instead prepare themselves to make new decisions, such as establishing flexible BYOT policies in the next 18 months. Moreover to combat the two key challenges stated above, CIOs must address information storage/security by moving to the cloud as well as build skills to support an expanding device and app menagerie.
文末に漏れがありました。追加訂正をお願い致します。 → Forresterでは、まさにこのように指摘している。