BYOD

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) refers to the policy of permitting employees to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets, and smartphones) to their workplace, and to use those devices to access privileged company information and applications. The term is also used to describe the same practice applied to students using personally owned devices in education settings.

The term BYOD first entered common use in 2009, courtesy of Intel when it recognized an increasing tendency among its employees to bring their own devices (i.e., smartphones, tablets and laptop computers) to work and connect them to the corporate network.

BYOD has been characterized as the feature of the "consumer enterprise" in which enterprises blend with consumers. This is a role reversal in that businesses used to be the driving force behind consumer technology innovations and trends.

The BYOD idea was initially rejected due to security concerns but more and more companies are now looking to incorporate BYOD policies. The proliferation of devices such as tablets and smartphones, which are now used by many people in their daily lives, has led to a number of companies allowing employees to bring their own devices to work, due to perceived productivity gains and cost savings.

The most significant challenge companies face regarding BYOD is how to enable security in a way that doesn't freak employees out but still gives information technology departments enough control, with many users currently unaware or unmotivated about security risks.