The worldwide BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) market stood at USD 94.2 billion in 2014. It is expected to surpass USD 350 billion by 2024. Increasing adoption of tablets, laptops, and smartphones can boost this market over the forecast period (2016 - 2024). Proliferation of services, such as 4G LTE may drive the BYOD market in developed & developing economies in the forthcoming years.
It has been observed that employees prefer using one device only, for their professional and personal use. This prevents inconvenience caused by separate devices and reduces thefts. Furthermore, the need to switch between personal and work devices also gets eliminated. Such a trend lowers the hardware & device costs for a company. Since devices are personally owned, employees are better acquainted with them. This boosts their productivity at work and also increases employee satisfaction. Using personal devices for work reduces operating expenditure (OpEx) and capital expenditure (CapEx) since the costs for purchasing systems gets eliminated.
‘BYOD’ is drastically transforming the classroom scene as well. Educators are integrating technology with education for better results. Teachers can connect the existing tech trends (like smart boards) with student devices to make ‘learning’ a more interactive process. This could make students more comfortable with using technology to their benefit. Most importantly, a student can learn at his own pace and have greater access to extra study content. This platform offers teachers the tools for managing classrooms and for real time analytics on every student’s performance. A teacher can forward the contents to her students’ devices and receive immediate feedback on the lesson.
Demand for mobile devices is anticipated to drive the market over the forecast period. Asia Pacific reported the highest number of mobile phones subscriptions in 2014. Popularity of mobile phones owes to their affordable price and low tariffs on voice calling. In addition to this, technological & infrastructural developments can support industry growth. Mobile operators invest heavily in building mobile service infrastructure.
Citrix Systems Inc., a US based software firm helps streamline BYOD through its simple & secure approach. It is based on remote support technologies, leading enterprise mobility management, file sharing, and desktop virtualization among others. Moreover, Citrix enables organizations protect and control business information from thefts & losses. It simultaneously addresses the mandates regarding privacy compliance and risk management. The products offered by the company are compatible with Android, iOS, Windows, and Chrome-based devices.
Despite the advantages of the ‘bring your own device’ trend, there are a number of risks that come with it. Risks include theft of devices, vandalism, and third-party access to information. Many a times, when employees possessing their own devices leave an organization, they take along with them sensitive organizational information & data. This creates problems for the concerned organization. Furthermore, data location management, tracking data, and hacking may hinder growth of the industry. Other market restraints are governance & compliance issues, device seizure, and loss of data. However, content management, and the application of specialized tools deployed by organizations can help manage and protect data & security.
The worldwide BYOD market is divided into devices, end-uses, software, and regions. Tablets, smartphones, and laptops are the key devices of this industry. Being the most extensively used device, ‘Smartphones’ held the largest market share of 55% in 2013. The application of popular features by mobile developers is the main factor that drives this segment. Some of the commonly used features are Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Word. These enable employees to strike a balance between their work and other personal tasks via smartphones.
Laptops were used extensively in 2013. Unlike tablets, these may exhibit steady growth over the forecast period. Tablets possess the features of both laptops and smartphones. This could increase the adoption of tablets in the BYOD market in the forthcoming years.
The end-use segment encompasses mid-to-large sized businesses and small businesses. Businesses of all sizes ranging from small to mid-to-large are adopting the ‘bring your own device’ policy to reduce their capital & operating expenditure. Moreover, employees share data costs incurred on their devices; this further lowers the costs of the company. Mid-to-large sized businesses held more than 75% of the market revenues in 2013. Sophisticated communication networks and availability of resources with security provisions contribute to the adoption of BYOD in mid-to-large sized businesses. A number of companies utilize mobile device management (MDM) to run their businesses.
Small and midsized businesses (SMBs) use MDM solutions to manage mobile devices for enhanced security. Most IT professionals of SMBs focus on employee awareness and on framing policies pertaining to mobility. Banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI) and healthcare are the key verticals that may adopt ‘BYOD’ in the near future. Factors that can drive the adoption of BYOD in the BFSI sector are remote access control to account details and the need for close collaborations with customers & co-workers.
On the basis of software, the industry is split into Enterprise Mobile Email Management (EMEM), Mobile Devices Management (MDM), Telecom Expense Management (TEM), Enterprise Mobile Content Management (EMCM), and Mobile Application Management (MAM). Improvements & enhancements in IT technology and its applications through these systems could increase the adoption of BYOD. Such a trend can fuel market growth during the forecast period.
Regions include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (RoW). The North America market was estimated at over USD 25 billion in 2013. The region is expected to continue dominating the global market in the forecast period. Low provision rate of corporate mobile devices and the ‘work from home’ option offered by many U.S. companies propels this market.
Demand for BYOD in Asia Pacific is increasing rapidly due to the growing use of tablets & smartphones and their subsequent impact on IT. Though a large number of employees in this region mainly use their own devices for work purpose, there is a lack of formalized policy that supports BYOD. This may hinder demand in the forthcoming years.
IBM Corporation, Cisco Systems, Good Technology Inc., and Alcatel-Lucent are the key players in the global BYOD market. These companies focus on operational simplification, talent retention, and cost reduction. Most competitors have introduced tailor-made solutions specifically for SMBs to capitalize on their growth prospects.
