Succeeding in a BYOD World

(Jun 11 2012) 4G Device , Cloud , Mobile Enterprise , Security

1. As communications service providers (CSPs) face the challenge of continually increasing revenue streams, one customer segment they are trying to better serve is business customers, including enterprises and small to midsize businesses (SMBs). Heavy Reading recently conducted a survey of 56 unique CSPs worldwide on behalf of Amdocs. The survey examined respondents’ attitudes, perceptions and plans regarding their enterprise and SMB customers. Respondents from Asia/Pacific, North America, Central/Latin America and Europe, the Middle East andAfrica report a universal concern of increasing customer satisfaction for this segment.

   Increasing customer satisfaction means that CSPs must keep up with the demands of their business customers, and the growing demand among business customers today is the consumerization of IT due to offerings such as bring your own device (BYOD). CSPs are aware of this demand, and now they must make sure their own systems and IT departments are able to provide and support such services.

   According to the survey, CSPs are definitely concentrating on the needs of business customers, as they would like to be able to offer services, such as enabling threshold alerts, customer set spending and rich customer care options and loyalty plans. Survey respondents also want to improve their business customer satisfaction by being able to have a single view of the customer. Despite these desires and others, CSPs find that complex activities, such as resource optimization, service qualification and design and discovery, prevent them from having optimal service fulfillment and less than desirable fallout. CSPs also feel that other factors, such as lack of BSS/OSS convergence, also inhibits them from better serving their business customers.

   When CSPs were asked about the potential benefits their business customers believe BYOD will bring to their organization, large majorities of respondents from Central/Latin America (88 percent), Asia/Pacific (92 percent) and Europe, the Middle East andAfrica(76 percent) reported that the biggest perceived benefit is cost savings, while North American respondents pointed to employee satisfaction (75 percent). In terms of cost benefit, business customers are also thinking (depending on their BYOD policies) that they may not have to purchase the devices themselves or even provide little or no support to employees who bring their own devices.

   It is obvious that business customers will have to establish their unique BYOD polices and determine to what degree employees will handle their own devices and what type of support the business will provide. Of course, BYOD comes with increased liability, as outside apps may pose security risks. With thousands of new apps being released on a daily basis, devices are susceptible to viruses or even data theft. So BYOD offerings will have to incorporate very specific policies and include mobile management. IT departments will have to oversee and support various passwords to enterprise-specific apps. Employee usage will be another area to consider, as data control may be a concern. And, though BYOD policies may be in place, CSPs will have to be ready to provide support in case of failure.

   Consumerization of IT is definitely here and increasing in demand through request of BYOD services. It is now up to the CSPs and their business customers to provide and serve it the best way they can.

   By:  Ari Banerjee, Senior Analyst, Heavy Reading 

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