[2][3][4] The other, and the main focus of this article, is in the workplace, where it refers to a policy of permitting employees to bring personally owned devices (laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.)
The phrase and the "BYOD" acronym is a take-off on "BYOB", a party invitation term first recorded in the 1970s, standing for "bring your own beer/booze/bottle".
[10][11][12] The term BYOD then entered common use in 2009, courtesy of Intel, when it recognized an increasing tendency among its employees to bring their own smartphones, tablets and laptop computers to work and connect them to the corporate network.
[13] However, it took until early 2011 before the term achieved prominence, when IT services provider Unisys and software vendor Citrix Systems started to share their perceptions of this emergent trend.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted a BYOD policy, but many employees continued to use their government-issued BlackBerrys because of concerns about billing, and the lack of alternative devices.
[18] The remaining 52 percent have some kind of hybrid approach where some employees receive corporate mobile phones and others are expected to bring their own.
[19] According to research by Logicalis, high-growth markets (including Brazil, Russia, India, UAE, and Malaysia) demonstrate a much higher propensity to use their own device at work.
[22][23] Others say that using their own devices increases employee morale and convenience and makes the company look like a flexible and attractive employer.
[24] Many feel that BYOD can even be a means to attract new hires, pointing to a survey that indicating that 44% of job seekers view an organization more positively if it supports their device.
The study also suggests that the benefits of BYOD include increased productivity, employee satisfaction, and cost savings for the company.
Although the ability of staff to work at any time from anywhere and on any device provides real business benefits, it also brings significant risks.
[28] According to an IDG survey, more than half of 1,600 senior IT security and technology purchase decision-makers reported serious violations of personal mobile device use.
[37] Organizations adopting a BYOD policy must also consider how they will ensure that the devices which connect to the organisation's network infrastructure to access sensitive information will be protected from malware.
An organisation can typically expect users to use their own devices to connect to the Internet from private or public locations.
[39] Several market and policies have emerged to address BYOD security concerns, including mobile device management (MDM), containerization and app virtualization.
Many organisations lack proper network infrastructure to handle the large traffic generated when employees use different devices at the same time.
A recent court ruling in California indicates the need of reimbursement if an employee is required to use their personal device for work.
A 2018 study found that 89 percent of organizations with a BYOD policy provide a full or partial stipend to compensate employees for their mobile phone expenses.
[49] A BYOD policy helps eliminate the risk of having malware in the network, as the management team can monitor all contents of the device and erase data if any suspicious event is captured.