In corporate offices, it's now BYOD - Bring Your Own Devices

They are now in retreat. Employees are bringing in the technology they use at home and demanding the IT department accommodate them. The IT department often complies.

Some companies have even surrendered to what is being called the consumerisation of IT At Kraft Foods, the IT department’s involvement in choosing technology for employees is limited to handing out a stipend. Employees use the money to buy whatever laptop they want from Best Buy, Amazon.com or the local Apple store. “We heard from people saying, ‘How come I have better equipment at home?”’ said Mike Cunningham, chief technology officer for Kraft Foods. “We said, hey, we can address that.”

Encouraging employees to buy their own laptops, or bring their mobile phones and iPads from home, is gaining traction in the workplace. By being more flexible, companies are hoping that workers will be more comfortable with their devices and therefore more productive. ‘Bring your own device,’ or BYOD, policies, as they are called, are also shifting the balance of power among electronics makers. Manufacturers good at selling to consumers are increasingly gaining the upper hand, while those focused on bulk corporate sales are slipping.

The phenomenon is upending the corporate market, which has traditionally hinged on electronics makers cultivating tight relationships with IT departments. Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, have long dominated the workplace, but Apple and its consumer-friendly blockbusters – the iPhone, iPad and MacBook – have made major inroads.

It’s not just electronics. A variety of online services that were originally aimed at consumers are crossing over. Google is hoping that people using its Gmail and Google Docs products will produce a guerrilla movement inside corporations strong enough to displace Microsoft and its Office suite of software.

“Innovation is where you find it,” said Ted Schadler, an analyst with Forrester Research who follows technology in the workplace. “You shouldn’t reject things that make employees more productive, and if those things happen to be consumer technologies, so be it.”

Corporate IT departments often resist allowing consumer technology on their networks because of security concerns. Adding a hodgepodge of devices and services also complicates their job. But IT departments are gradually warming to the idea simply because their bosses left them little choice. The IT staff may grieve for their lost power, but they do it.

“They’re over the denial and anger stage, and now they are in the acceptance and ‘How can we help?’ stage,” said Schadler, who co-wrote the book ‘Empowered,’ which addresses consumer technology in the workplace. “What broke the camel’s back was the iPad, because executives brought it into the company and said ‘Hey, you’ve got to support this.”'

A survey of more than 1,700 technology workers earlier this year by Forrester showed how much of the equipment-buying decision rests with employees. Nearly half of the respondents said that they bought their work smartphone while 41 per cent said their employer paid; 9 per cent said the cost was shared between the two.

Letting workers bring their iPhones and iPads to work can also save companies money. In some cases, employees pay for equipment themselves and seek tech help from store staff rather than their company’s IT department. “You can basically outsource your IT department to Apple,” said Ben Reitzes, an analyst with Barclays Capital.

Obvious winner
With its strength in consumer products, Apple is the obvious winner from more flexible corporate technology spending. Sales of Apple devices are strong while the rest of the PC market is weak, although how many of its phones, tablets and laptops are for use in the office is difficult to say.

Meanwhile, sales at companies like Dell and RIM that concentrate on corporations are stagnant or sinking. HP, which is the leading PC maker and is strong in consumer PCs, is considering jettisoning that business to concentrate on corporate software and services. It even killed off its TouchPad, which was to rival the iPad, and its cellphones.

This retreat is happening because many of those companies are finding they just aren’t that good at selling to consumers. “What you’re seeing is that Apple’s approach is winning, and it is tough for the others to keep up,” Reitzes said.

‘Bring your own device’ is not for every company. Because of security concerns and data retention laws, some firms like Wells Fargo do not let employees connect to corporate networks with their personal electronics. Protecting the bank’s customers is more important than any benefit from letting employees use their personal devices for business, said Jim Spicer, chief information officer of corporate technology and data for the company.

However, Wells Fargo, like many companies, has expanded the choice of corporate-owned devices that it issues to employees to include more consumer-oriented products including Apple computers, iPhones and iPads. “The biggest challenge we have today is making sure that we don’t chase every device that comes along,” Spicer said.