As Apple launches iPhone 5S, over half (56%) of CIOs say they now allow employees to use their own smartphones in the workplace

Over three quarters (76%) allow mobile devices, including tablets, MP3 players and USB drives

Security concerns cited as biggest challenge faced by companies allowing BYOD by 53% of CIOs

BYOD strategy drives new infrastructure upgrades for a quarter (25%) of organisations

London, 11 September, 2013 – The trend to bring your own device (BYOD) to work continues apace with more than three quarters (76%) of CIOs reporting that they allow employee owned devices into the workplace, according to new research from Robert Half Technology[1].The biggest challenge that CIOs face when allowing BYOD policies are security concerns, cited by over half (53%) of respondents.  This echoes earlier research by Robert Half Technology, which found that more than three quarters (78%) of CIOs report managing IT security a challenge for their businesses.

The most popular BYOD options are currently laptops (65%), smartphones (56%), USBs/memory sticks (51%), tablet computers (38%), external hard drives (27%) or iPods/MP3 players (19%).  The use of employees’ own smartphones is much higher in the Midlands (73%) and London/the South East (69%) than in the South West/Wales (46%) and the North/Scotland (36%).

Phil Sheridan, Managing Director, Robert Half Technology said: “There are a number of factors leading to the growth of BYOD, from company cost savings to employee preferences for using their own device. Consumer-friendly new technologies such as Apple’s iPhone 5S, which launched yesterday has prompted my employees to rely on a certain level of productivity at work as they have at home. Only 24% of IT directors in our survey said that they do not currently allow employee owned devices into the workplace, so the tide has clearly turned in favour of BYOD.

“Companies need to consider a well thought out BYOD strategy if they want to attract the best candidates – especially IT professionals.  Almost half (47%) of CIOs reported that allowing employee-owned devices into the company improved productivity, while 37% said that they improved employee retention/satisfaction.”

However, organisations still need to be mindful of the security concerns reported by CIOs as challenges involved in implementing BYOD strategies, said Sheridan.

They also need to understand that there may be financial implications involved in upgrading IT infrastructure or providing BYOD related training.  On the plus side, just under a third (30%) of organisations said that BYOD helped to control capital costs while 22% said that it helped to control contract costs.

Despite the reluctance of some IT directors to open up corporate systems to BYOD, Robert Half’s research found that IT departments were more likely than other groups across the organisation to drive BYOD initiatives.  More than a third (36%) of respondents said IT departments were the key driver for implementing BYOD, more than general employee requests (33%), the leadership team (24%), HR (7%) and sales (1%).

Sheridan concludes: “Although CIOs have security concerns when considering BYOD policies, their teams are best-placed to implement the correct infrastructure to support extra devices in a safe environment and to understand the impact of extra devices and apps on the network.”