Does BYOD Work For Field Service?

Transcription

1 Does BYOD Work For Field Service? By Brian Albright Field Technologies Online Most field service organizations still use a corporate device strategy, but emerging tools and technologies may make BYOD more appealing. Enterprises have adopted bring- your- own- device (BYOD) mobile strategies in an effort to reduce the cost of mobile deployments by shifting the hardware purchase and upkeep costs to their employees. That approach, however, has complicated managing and securing corporate data on these devices. In response, some companies have turned to a hybrid strategy referred to as COPE corporate owned, personally enabled. While BYOD has taken off for white- and gray- collar applications in the enterprise, many field service organizations (FSOs) have not taken this approach because they traditionally have used more expensive, rugged,

2 and specialized devices. As more FSOs deploy consumer- grade tablets and phones, however, that may change in some markets. These firms may be shifting away from the purpose- built devices to cheaper Android devices, but they re still being provided by the organization, says Alan Murray, senior VP of products at Apperian. On the other hand, for field service organizations having more white- collar roles, such as with equipment manufacturing with dealer networks or a sales agency model as seen in real estate and financial institutions, BYOD is certainly taking hold because these mobile users are not full- time employees of the parent company. According to Jim Wenninger, CEO of WennSoft, BYOD in field service is still primarily limited to nontechnical staff. The most common form of BYOD currently in use is when employees who don t typically go out into the field (estimators, project managers, back office staff) will hook their work up to their personally owned smartphone, Wenninger says. But that s the extent of it they don t use their personal phones for any other work tasks. Our customers who use our mobile solution typically provide companyowned devices for their field technicians. Where ruggedness is less important, though, BYOD potentially represents a way for companies to get away from purchasing and maintaining a hardware fleet and instead deploy (frequently cloud- based or hosted) applications to a wider variety of platforms. Some have taken the long road of maturity and adopted changes after several years and multiple release cycles, says Marco Nielsen, VP of managed mobility services at Stratix. BYOD can work if you have the right support, standards, and planning around it. BYOD Brings Ease Of Use In addition to potentially reducing costs, there are other reasons that companies migrate to BYOD. Using a personal device they are already familiar with can improve employees engagement and innovation, and make it easier to train employees on new apps. Mobility is very personal, compared to the ancient computing history of terminals and desktops, Nielsen says. Employees personalize their devices. By next year millennials

3 will account for the highest percentage of workers compared to Gen X and boomers. Who do you know below the age of 35 who doesn t have a smartphone of some kind? In fact, engagement and training benefits are often seen as more important than cost savings, especially since those savings are often not as significant as first predicted. Depending on the type of BYOD program, overall costs to the business may decrease but they also can increase, says Brian Miller, VP of enterprise solutions at Sprint. Today, BYOD is beginning to be seen as a strategic initiative that can put productivity apps and tools in the hands of more employees. There are a number of obstacles to successful BYOD deployments. Reimbursement is a key issue, since employees will expect the company to pay for at least part of their phone plan and data usage. Last year, a California appeals court ruled that companies in that state must reimburse employees for work- related voice calls on their personal cell phones after service managers at frozen food delivery company Schwan s filed a class action suit. Security is another major concern, although emerging solutions that help secure corporate data and applications on employee devices can mitigate these issues. There is a variety of constantly evolving tools that can be used to secure company information on BYOD devices, Miller says. There will almost certainly be additional costs associated with the new systems and staff, but they need to be considered against the benefits of increased employee productivity and satisfaction. Murray, however, points out that many MDM (mobile device management) solutions aren t compatible with BYOD programs. The reality is, MDM does little when it comes to real data security, and, while it may be considered necessary in some instances, it is far from sufficient, he says. We re seeing an increased focus on app and data level protections now and less on the whole device front. Requiring too much control over personally owned devices can actually stifle the innovation and productivity gains that BYOD could otherwise

4 deliver. That s why many companies still gravitate toward corporate- owned devices. It takes a lot of time and energy to manage a number of different types of personally owned devices, Wenninger says. With corporate- owned devices, there s usually just one platform to manage. It can also be difficult to protect company information and preserve company access with a personally owned device. COPE- ing With BYOD Problems? This is where COPE (corporate owned, personally enabled) strategies have emerged. Theoretically, companies are able to ensure data security by owning and provisioning the devices, while allowing employees the freedom to use the devices for personal calls and online activities. But this model hasn t taken off as predicted. In some ways, it creates the worst of both worlds because users don t really feel they can trust their personal information on the devices, and they aren t able to choose the device or OS they favor. I recall seeing articles in 2013 that said BYOD is dead and COPE will be the new model, Murray says. Two years later, BYOD is still on top. The truth is there s no such thing as real COPE. It s either corporate owned or personally owned; it can t be both. As a result, many employees still carry multiple devices. Technology- wise, this could change in time as devices become more powerful, and solutions already exist to have several security models within one device, Nielsen says. The Samsung KNOX solution, for example, is one of them already available. Mobile OS virtualization is the other extreme, which is not quite ready for prime time. BYOD programs vary greatly from one company to another in the number and types of employees included, technical tools used, and the formal policies and guidelines that define the program, acceptable device use, and shared expenses. The first step in defining a successful BYOD strategy is to develop a comprehensive plan that looks at all those elements, Miller says. If you are supporting multiple employee groups, remember one size doesn t fit all. BYOD is where business mobility intersects with personal mobility. Involve your employees in defining your BYOD program.

5 You should invest in some sort of device and application management solution, while balancing the need to protect corporate information with respect for the end users right to privacy. Some end users are able to understand what they are agreeing to when they let their company have control of their device, but some are not, Murray says. If you re going down the BYOD path, use a nonintrusive app management approach that only gives IT control of the corporate apps and data and let users know that their personal information is truly private. Working out an acceptable compensation strategy is also critical. If you have to reimburse employees for their own plans, the administrative cost of doing so can eat into cost and productivity savings. Some carriers now have split billing, so the company could pay some of the costs directly without having a costly monthly expense cycle, if employees purchase their devices/services through a company- sponsored carrier plan, Nielsen says. New Tools Will Encourage BYOD Adoption The vendors interviewed for this story expect BYOD to continue to grow in the mobile enterprise in general, and in field service in particular. Both Samsung s KNOX and Google s Android for Work solutions can help employees keep their corporate and personal information protected. I think as mobile device management software improves and the price comes down, you will see more companies choosing to implement BYOD programs, Wenninger says. Organizations don t want to have to keep buying devices, especially with the frequency of how fast they re being changed out. IT departments are overwhelmed by keeping up with the rapidly changing mobile hardware space, and having employees manage their own devices could remove this burden. BYOD frees your IT department to focus on building amazing mobile apps that can make a real impact on the organization, Murray says. Before you make the move to BYOD, though, make sure you have developed thorough security, reimbursement, and employee responsibility policies. Otherwise, you could potentially increase costs and put your data at risk. Don t jump blindly into BYOD, Miller says. If you do, your

6 program will likely fail. Make sure you have a strategy for BYOD that specifically defines who you are trying to serve, why, and then how. Make sure to involve your employees in the process and you will greatly increase the success of your program. If you don t, they will likely resist or look for ways around the program. Ultimately, it s about putting mobility and productivity tools in the hands of as many employees as you can.