Definition

BYOD (bring your own device)

Part of the Wireless and mobile glossary:

BYOD (bring your own device) is the increasing trend toward employee-owned devices within a business. Smartphones are the most common example but employees also take their own tablets, laptops and USB drives into the workplace.

Next Steps

BYOD is part of the larger trend of IT consumerization, in which consumer software and hardware are being brought into the enterprise. BYOT (bring your own technology) refers to the use of consumer devices and applications in the workplace. More specific variations on the term include bring your own computer (BYOC), bring your own laptop (BYOL), bring your own apps (BYOA) and bring your own PC (BYOPC).

Employee-owned devices are sometimes sanctioned by the company and supported alongside devices that are owned by the business. In other cases, employee-owned devices are part of the parallel system known as shadow IT: hardware or software within an enterprise that is not supported by the organization’s central IT department.

Whether employee-owned hardware and software are supported or not, they pose security risks to the organization if they connect to the corporate network or access corporate data. To minimize the risk and accommodate consumer technologies, many businesses are implementing BYOD policies.

This was last updated in October 2012
Contributor(s): Ivy Wigmore
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

Related Terms

Definitions

  • bring your own apps (BYOA)

    - Bring your own apps (BYOA) is the trend toward employee use of third-party applications and cloud services in the workplace. BYOA, like the BYOD trend towards user-owned devices in the workplace, i... (WhatIs.com)

  • device-agnostic (device agnosticism)

    - Device agnostic is a description for computing components that work with various systems without requiring any special adaptations.  (SearchConsumerization.com)

  • bring your own network (BYON)

    - When a network administrator talks about BYON, he is describing the ability that employees have to create a wireless hot spot at work. Vendors are using the term to describe a service that allows r... (WhatIs.com)

Glossaries

  • Wireless and mobile

    - Terms related to wireless and mobile technology, including definitions about consumer mobile technology devices and communication technologies such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX and LTE.

  • Business terms

    - Terms related to business, including definitions about project management and words and phrases about human resources, finance and vertical industries.

  • Personal computing

    - Terms related to personal computers, including definitions about computers sold as consumer products and words and phrases about laptops, tablets and smartphones.

Dig Deeper

Continue Reading About BYOD (bring your own device)

People Who Read This Also Read...

Ask a Question. Find an Answer.Powered by ITKnowledgeExchange.com

Ask An IT Question

Get answers from your peers on your most technical challenges

Ask Question

Tech TalkComment

Share
Comments

    Results

    Contribute to the conversation

    All fields are required. Comments will appear at the bottom of the article.