BYOD's Impact on Tech Support

Enterprise mobility has come a long way since the briefcase-sized mobile phones of the '90s. Once only provided to executives and traveling businessmen, mobile devices are now in the hands of pretty much every employee. After all, smartphones and tablets have become ingrained in American culture, and as a result, these pocket-sized computers have infiltrated enterprise IT environments. The only way many organizations could react was to welcome mobile devices into the workplace, and in order to support employees' technical demands, they must turn to business process outsourcing.

Nearing BYOD ubiquity
Enter bring your own device, otherwise known as BYOD, the practice of using personal smartphones and tablets for work-related purposes with the authorization of IT departments. According to a Tech Pro Research study that was cited by ZDNet, as of January 2015, approximately 75 percent of businesses had a BYOD policy in place, with IT, technology and educational sectors most likely to permit the use of employee-owned electronics in the workplace.

The research indicated that smartphones and tablets were the most popular BYOD computers, but nowadays, enterprises are likely to allow their staff members to use a wide variety of personal computers. Specifically, wearables are catching on. With only around 29 percent of organizations currently including smartwatches and the like in their BYOD strategies, this number will probably grow as in the future, given the popularity of Apple and Samsung products.

It is no wonder BYOD is so widely accepted as we approach 2016: BYOD improves productivity and as a result, it impacts the bottom line. An economic analysis report from Cisco explained that the typical American employee can add 81 minutes of extra time to their work week if they use a personal device for work purposes. This means that for each BYOD participant, organizations earn an extra $350 every year, and when BYOD strategies were defined as "comprehensive" that value is closer to $1,300 annually.

BYOD skills gap
While the benefits of BYOD are clear, some enterprises will struggle to find IT professionals to support an IT environment comprised of a wide variety of end-user devices. In other words, BYOD-adept individuals are hard to find. According to CIO, which cited a survey conducted by Janco Associates, the average organization faces challenges when looking for employees to fill BYOD desktop support roles. In brief, those who posses the knowledge required to provide tech support to smartphones and tablets command a large salary.

Nowadays, the most popular BYOD device manufacturers, according to ZDNet, are Apple, Samsung and Microsoft. Those companies continually release new smartphones and tablets, each with their own unique sets of capabilities, features and system requirements. Add in some considerations with regard to business-specific applications and policies, and providing efficient and adequate tech support for larger organizations doesn't look like a one-man job. Therefore, not only do enterprises need one or two BYOD desktop support representatives, but they'll also need dozens, each with "hard-to-find" talents.

BPO's role in BYOD tech support
As a result of the skills gap, 28 percent of organizations turn to BPO to mitigate BYOD tech support concerns, a Deloitte report read. While this technological trend isn't as pressing as others - such as the cloud and big data - BYOD is more valuable than many enterprises might believe. After all, it isn't easy to calculate the return on investment with respect to BYOD - it is a very case-by-case scenario. Therefore, organizations aren't specifically investing in BPO for BYOD reasons. Instead, BYOD tech support is an extra capability that BPO providers offer, and taking advantage of that is critical as more devices enter the BYOD fray in the coming years.

BYOD and BPO just makes sense as a pair. A report from Kable Global on BPO trends stated that enterprises now form business partnerships with their BPO providers, as these tech support services will supply organizations with a specific business outcome. In BYOD's case, the benefit to operations lies in more productive employees. Those gains then contribute directly to an enterprise's bottom line - as outlined above as well.

Outsourcing BYOD tech support is therefore an opportunity to improve the fiscal status of an organization. Additionally, turning to BPO for employees' technical assistance needs is a great operational strategy - one that not only removes the burden of onboarding expert professionals, but it also ensures that every staff members receives efficient and proficient tech support regardless of when they need it, where they are or which device they're using.

The rise in BPO demand is directly proportional to the growth in enterprises' operational requirements, and as such, the rapid increase in personal smartphones and tablets in the workplace calls external solutions that can address end-user issues in that regard.