BYOD: New success mantra for the smart enterprises

ALKESH SHARMA / Emirates Business

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is one of the most innovative success mantras that smart enterprises are currently following in the UAE region. Aimed at empowering the workforce through the so-called ‘consumerisation of IT’, BYOD concept gives a freedom to employees to access latest technology and apps.
The upcoming ‘BYOD Forum UAE’, in Dubai, will look in detail at the introduction of IT policy where employees would be allowed and at the same time encouraged to use their personal mobile devices like tablets, notebooks, smart-phones and other mobile devices to access company’s systems and data.
“BYOD is one of the most promising trends in businesses, especially IT enterprises. There are cases where regularly updating software and operating systems is sometimes out of the annual budgets of many companies. In such circumstances, BYOD imparts freedom to employees to harness latest technology while using their personal systems,” Juma Al-Mohammed, a social entrepreneur, who is working in the area of amalgamating renewable energy with technology in Abu Dhabi, told Emirates Business.
“Especially we have seen that IT departments usually struggle to keep up with frequent technology changes and in those cases, employees increasingly want to use their own systems to access the enterprise data. It is high time to accept BYOD in our operations,” added Al-Mohammed.
Essentially it is of utmost importance to allow employees use those mobile devices that eventually help them in increasing their productivity. A recent UAE study from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) christened ‘Mobility, Performance and Engagement’, revealed that nearly 60 percent employees maintained mobile technology makes them more productive, while around 50 percent stated it causes their creativity to rise.
BYOD Forum UAE, which will be held from November 7-8, will support the digital workplace and technology transformation to optimise employee engagement, enhance business performance and deliver enhanced return-on-investment (ROI) on IT investment. “BYOD Forum UAE will gather scores of CIO’s, CTO’s, IT experts, security managers, and service providers from different sectors to discuss case studies and strategies for developing, implementing and delivering a resilient BYOD system and strategy to enhance organisational performance and deliver maximum ROI on IT investment,” said one of the main organisers of this forum, requesting not to be named.
“BYOD policy may allow employees to use their personal device including mobile devices and notebook PCs to access enterprise data and systems with a limited access and with the control of IT,” added the organiser.
Notably, the UAE has been in the forefront of advanced mobile technologies and fiber broadband in the Middle East.
The UAE is one of the regional leaders in e-commerce and e-governance, while cloud services are fast gaining momentum in this region.