How VMware saved $2 million with BYOD

12 years ago

With the consumerization of IT, many large firm often do not have a choice but to open up the corporate networks to worker-owned mobile devices.

There are numerous cases studies and surveys that point to how the bring your own device trend has boosted performance and employee morale, but BYOD has a hidden cost.

Last year the Aberdeen Group released a study which indicates a company with about 1,000 mobile devices would increase their expenses by up to $170,000 when they implement BYOD. Among other things, premiums are expected to rise because the firm loses access to volume discount rates while the cost of processing expenses reports, security and compliance will most likely balloon.

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Virtual machine provider VMware Inc. however, appears to have bucked the trend by saving as much as $2 million with its BYOD program, according to this report from Computerworld.com.

Mark Egan, VMware CIO, said it had to learn the hand way though.

The company initially gave workers a choice to purchase their devices and placed all the employees on a personal liability and expense reimbursement program when the program began in 2011. The result was that VMware ended up spending approximately $172 per month per user in the United States and a lot of the devices, particularly iPhones, were reported broken or lost.

One of VMware’s most important moves to curb expenses was to determine which employee actually needed a mobile phone for work. Once, the list was done, VMware introduced two reimbursement programs: One for customer-facing employees and the other for non-customer facing employees.

Both programs did not include a stipend for buying devices. Instead, customer-facing employees are reimbursed up to $250/month for legitimate mobile expenses. Non-customer facing employees are reimbursed up to $70/month for legitimate mobile expenses.

VMware further cuts expenses by not providing technical support for employee-owned devices beyond configuring them for security and mobile device management tools.

Find out more about VMware’s cost cutting BYOD measures here