BYOD: What you get for what you pay

Love it or hate it, bring-your-own-device (BYOD) was affecting security and network performance long before it became the industry’s newest buzzword.

Proponents suggest that BYOD will make more room in the budget, and on the surface it seems like a cost-cutter.

But this is not true. A typical BYOD model costs 33% more than the traditional corporate-wireless model, according to Aberdeen.

When considering BYOD, organisations need to tackle three issues: security, impact on the network, and budget. Here are three approaches that address these challenges.

The frugal Approach

Some IT departments are ‘securing’ their network by isolating all tablets and smart phone devices to a separate VLAN outside the corporate network, where the only way to access internal resources is via VPN.

There are no specific mobile management capabilities, so IT utilise their existing network management solutions to monitor network traffic inside and outside the VLAN to detect suspicious activity and ensure that new demands on network bandwidth are being met.

Does this work? Yes, for some organisations.

Is it optimal? No – the IT team