Ask HN: Does your company have a BYOD strategy? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Does your company have a BYOD strategy?

Yes. The company (hint: the brand is on your computer) has 2 different BYOD strategies.

The first is BYOM - Bring Your Own Mac. You pay for your own Mac, and they'll give you the corporate Windows image on your choice of a VM or on the hardware for you (not sure if it's via Bootcamp or complete system wipe). Your cost center incurs a surcharge for Mac support, and you can't take it to the local PC service center for most things.

The second is BYOD, and has 2 parts - phones/tablets, and laptops.

You can buy and bring any laptop you want, and we'll install the IT image, put on full disk encryption, etc. There's no subsidy for both BYOM and BYOD. You just get to chose what hardware you wanted to run with. I'm not sure if there's a requirement to buy $OURPRODUCTS, but the employee hardware discounts from Dell, Lenovo, etc only apply to them, so most people end up with our hardware. I think the largest increase in BYOD was after the Ultrabooks came out, but before they were available as a normal hardware refresh option.

You can bring your own phone or tablet. I don't know anyone with their own tablet, but the phone is popular. Very few people actually have corporate cell phones, but you can get a discounts on plans and select phones. If you bring your own phone, you grant IT remote wipe privileges in order to get the calendar and email, and a couple dozen apps.

If you Google for the company + BYOD, you'll find a lot of literature on the program; we're actually pretty open about it.

Wait, at your company, you have to pay for your own work computer?

Only if you BYOD. If you get the IT computers (large bludgeoning devices with power bricks to match), then they're of course billed to your cost center and refreshed periodically. At refresh time you get your choice of like 3-4 models, but on initial hire your manager will just pick something for you.

So here's the BYOD pitch:

1) Pay for your own computer, making sure it has Windows Ultimate or Enterprise. Stipends were determined to not have the right ROI, so it's all out of pocket.

2) IT will install all the security software so you can get it on the production network (I actually think it's wiped and the corporate Windows Enterprise is put on, which is why you needed to buy it in the first place--otherwise the license isn't valid)

3) Support your own computer. IT has loaners if you need to send it off for warranty support or whatever

4) You get to mix work and home stuff on the same computer!

4% of the employee base has apparently taken them up on this offer, based on a public whitepaper I found about it..

No. Where I work, its ONLY-BUY-OUR-DEVICES rule. I work for a large global handset manufacturer (hint: largest in the world). Every morning and every evening I pass through big metal detectors and stand in a queue to get frisked everytime. As per policy, I can only buy devices made by my company if I intend to use it in office. If I buy something else, the security guards at entrance are happy to pack my device in a one-time sealable, semi-transparent bag, which ofcourse has to be in the same condition when I leave office. In case you are wondering... NO, I dont get discounts for buying any mobiles.

Sorry can I clarify?

You work for $BIGMANUF and you can use one of their phones in the office, and carry it through security. But if you try to carry a iPhone in, it will be sealed and bagged.

Huh?

If anyone is interested, Ericom is hosting a webinar on BYOD.

The webinar is tomorrow (Wednesday, July 26). To sign up: http://ow.ly/mjMA3

The same webinar will be repeated on July 10. https://ericom-event.webex.com/ericom-event/onstage/g.php?t=...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com