Sprint is teaming with Vision Wireless to deliver the service, which can be used across any wireless carrier plan, and runs $2 to $6 per user per month.
“IT management has told us about their challenge to stay focused on key priorities while also securing corporate data and managing a dynamic environment where employees use a variety of mobile devices from multiple carriers,” said John Dupree, vice president of business sales at Sprint.
There is certainly a need in the market. In a Farpoint Group survey of IT personnel, a full 88% of respondents said their companies had some form of sanctioned or non-sanctioned BYOD. Yet approximately one-third said they didn’t have any BYOD policies in place, and 10% said they didn’t know if their companies even had BYOD policies.
“BYOD is one of the most important directions in enterprise IT, with enormous potential benefits in productivity and cost savings,” said Craig Mathias, a principal with the wireless and mobile advisory firm Farpoint Group. “But…there are major requirements in consciousness-raising, policy definition and enforcement, and end-to-end solutions that include not just devices, but the enterprise data they increasingly contain.”
To that end, Sprint’s solution is turnkey and encompasses defining and enforcing compliance of BYOD policies within the workforce; securing corporate data on employee-owned devices with mobile device management and security capabilities; managing employee reimbursement; and analytics and reporting. It also includes a customized web portal for enterprises to use to register personal devices for the program.
Farpoint’s survey also pointed out that BYOD policies are in flux, as are employee’s thoughts on enterprises trying to get their arms around then. About 77% of respondents reported negative attitudes to mobile device management software, with a top concern being that it’s “too intrusive” for personal devices. Overall, respondents said they had concerns over whether using MDM software on smartphones and tablets they use for work could affect their personal data, photos and other files.