BYOD: unstoppable phenomenon?

We blogged in January 2011 about the growing practice of employees using their own devices at work, particularly fondleslabs, and its application to schooling. So we read with interest today this Gigaom article describing the phenomenon as “unstoppable” and stating that

companies need to invest in building apps, period.

Embrace change

The article emphasises the importance of the API border for security, straying into some technical territory, but draws towards a close with this refreshingly clear summing-up:

Business and IT leaders who are wrestling with whether or not personal devices should be allowed in their company’s network should embrace this change. There is no stopping it, it’s already here. And there is a big upside to BYOD beyond employee satisfaction. People treat their personal mobile devices as an extension of themselves. Employee productivity improves with each new task that they can accomplish on their favorite toy and a ton of costs can be saved through reduction in paperwork and manual processing in general.

APIs are the key

You won’t be surprised to hear that the article is written by a company that specialises in API solutions but none the less, some interesting points are made. And we have to agree, this one *is* “unstoppable”.