Do You BYOD?

Mobile computing is becoming more common for federal employees, and many agencies are beginning to allow employees to use their own personal devices for work, according to a new survey.

The survey of 414 federal employees and IT staff by CDW Government found that more than half of federal employees use at least one mobile device at work. Nearly all (99 percent) of IT professionals have deployed mobile devices to agency employees.

In addtion, 62 percent of agencies are allowing employees to BYOD, or bring your own device, to work. Forty-four percent of federal employees using a mobile device are using their own. That strategy appears to be working, as nearly all federal employees who use a mobile device for work believe it makes them more productive, and the majority say increased mobility will improve citizen service, the survey found.

"Mobility is the 'new normal' for Federal employees," said Bob Kirby, vice president of federal government for CDW-G. "Employees increasingly expect to be able to work anywhere and at any time. Agencies responded first by deploying mobile devices, and now they are enabling use of personal devices."

Kirby added that the BYOD trend is likely to continue, particularly following the Obama administration's November 2011 executive order asking agencies to limit the number of IT devices they issue to employees to reduce costs.

Meanwhile, agencies are providing a good security baseline for mobile devices, with the majority establishing data security policies (85 percent) and requiring data security training for mobile device users (84 percent), the study found. Other areas of security could be improved, however, as fewer IT professionals said their agency protects mobile devices with multi-factor authentication (54 percent), remote lock and wipe (45 percent) and data loss prevention software (39 percent), CDW-G found.

Are you using your own personal device for work? What factors are behind this trend at your agency?