Unavoidable: 62 percent of companies to allow BYOD by year's end

As employees bring their personal smartphones, tablets and laptops to the office, or use them offsite as they take their work home, IT departments are grappling with the growing Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend.

This change in how people work and the devices they’re working on is leading to many IT departments setting BYOD guidelines to protect company security as employees access email and other potentially proprietary data on their own devices. By setting guidelines, access to data is controlled and productivity can be extended to these devices.

Get a head start on launching a BYOD program with TechRepublic's ready-made BYOD policy.

To better understand how IT departments are approaching BYOD, we invited TechRepublic and ZDNet members to take a BYOD Business Strategy Survey. A wide array of responses was received with more than 1,000 people worldwide participating. The following are just two surprising facts we discovered:

More than 44 percent of organizations already allow BYOD and another 18 percent plan to move to BYOD by the end of 2013.

BYOD isn’t new for those who allow it, with 61 percent of companies with policies already in place having those policies for more than a year.

Respondents also revealed their reasons for not adopting a BYOD policy. Security topped the list, but there were other, less obvious, motives. For companies with policies in place, our research uncovered the following:

• Brand/Type of device most often issued by the company
• Device brand restrictions
• Percentage of employees who participate in the program
• Type of personal devices used most often for work
• Security approaches
• Hardware/Service plan costs (i.e. who's paying)

Whatever position your company takes on BYOD, whether to allow it or not, the information in this report can help you develop a BYOD plan that serves both the organization and employees.

Download the full BYOD Business Strategies: Adoption Plans, Deployment Options, IT Concerns, and Cost Savings report.

TechRepublic Pro original research

TechRepublic Pro, TechRepublic's premium service, provides information that IT leaders need to solve today's toughest IT problems and make informed decisions. The BYOD Business Strategies: Adoption Plans, Deployment Options, IT Concerns, and Cost Savings report is among the first of many original pieces of research we’re working on. Check out our previous reports on Windows 8 deployment, big data, and machine-to-machine (M2M) technology. In the coming months, we’ll cover SMB IT innovation, managing a mobile enterprise, and more.

The BYOD Business Strategies: Adoption Plans, Deployment Options, IT Concerns, and Cost Savings report is reserved for TechRepublic Pro members or available for one-off purchase through the TechRepublic store. Visit www.techrepublic.com/pro for information on becoming a member.