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Do business decisions makers, itdm, lob people care about style or looks when it comes to buying technology? Do they care what employees thing of corporately purchased tablets in terms of desire for style or image of such devices?
Hello! Thanks for your question about whether style or look is a consideration when businesses purchase technology devices for their employees.
The short version is that, based on information I gathered from Jamf and IDC's studies, style or look is not a major consideration among business decision makers, IT decision makers, LOB people, and employees alike when choosing and purchasing corporate technology devices. Most businesses offer a "Choose Your Own Device" (CYOD) program that lets employees choose from a range of brands or models. Some employees take the overall appeal of the device into consideration when making a choice, but most employees find ease of use, application availability, and security more important.
Below you will find further details on this.
METHODOLOGY
To answer your question, I scoured the Internet for recently published pages or files that contain information on whether businesses think about style or look when buying technology devices for their employees. I found very limited information with this approach, so I decided to search instead for what factors play a part in companies' device purchasing decisions. This approach led to more results, and in the process, I learned several terms such as employee choice programs' and 'CYOD' that enabled me to make more specific searches.
Please read on for my findings from the sources I gathered.
MOST BUSINESSES OFFER A CYOD PROGRAM
An October 2016 CIO.com article explains the following different strategies for mobile device management: Bring Your Own Device (BYOD); Corporate-Owned, Business Only (COBO); Choose Your Own Device (CYOD); and Corporate-Owned, Personal Use (COPE).
The article mentions some statistics from Insight as well. Based on Insight's study, "65 percent of North American and European users use CYOD tablets today. Of those, 58 percent were purchased by the user, 18 percent were purchased by the employer, 17 percent were discounted through the employer and seven percent were partially reimbursed by the employer."
In a CYOD program, the company provides employees a range of choices, and employees choose based on what option best suits their needs.
Meanwhile, according to a September 2016 IDC press release, "74% of enterprise organizations in the U.S. either already offer, or plan to offer a "Choose Your Own Device" (CYOD) program for employees in the coming year, citing that "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) programs are both difficult to manage and to secure."
STYLE IS NOT A MAJOR CONSIDERATION
Having established above that most businesses offer a CYOD program, I researched what most employees choose in a CYOD program and what factors they consider in making their choices.
From Jamf's findings from its 2016 Employee Choice Program Survey, which was conducted last February 2016 on "480 executives, managers, and IT professionals from small, medium, and large organizations around the world," I learned that:
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1. Seventy-five percent of employees choose Mac over PC. On the reason why they prefer Mac,
a. 43% find it easier to use
b. 17% say it offers their needed and desired applications
c. 11% find it more secure
d. 29% indicate other reasons including reliability, cool factor, and all of the above
2. As for their mobile device of choice, 79% of employees choose Apple, 18% choose Android, 2% choose Windows, and 1% choose Blackberry. On the reason for preferring Apple,
a. 41% find it easier to use
b. 27% say it offers their needed and desired applications
c. 16% find it more secure
d. 16% indicate other reasons
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It appears from these findings that, even though some employees take the "cool factor" into account when choosing their devices, most employees place more value on ease of use, availability of applications, and security.
There is very limited information on this subject, and Jamf's 2016 survey is the only source I found that has something to say about style, look, or image. In Jamf's 2015 Survey: Managing Apple Devices in the Enterprise, there are the following statements that talk about the design of Apple devices. The word 'design' in these statements does not seem to refer to look or style though.
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"Due to its intuitive design, iPhone is the leading smartphone in the enterprise, which is driving user preference and delivering a better user experience."
"Mac’s enterprise-ready design with built-in security features, software compatibility, and superior user experience make the OS X platform easier for IT teams to manage than other computer platforms."
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Style or look appears to be the least of concerns of business decision makers and IT decision makers. This is especially true with mobile devices. According to the September 2016 press release of IDC, "Cost savings and security risk mitigation are the biggest drivers of mobile device deployment strategies."
Moreover, according to its October 2016 white paper, "companies that are interested in providing their employees with a company-purchased smartphone often struggle to find devices that measure up to the standards IT sets for its PCs." IT professionals are concerned with the following features: durability; manageability; ease of deployment; ease of repair; water, dust, and drop resistance; dual-sim support and wireless charging. However, smartphones available in the market are "consumer grade" only, not "commercial grade."
CONCLUSION
In summary, among business decision makers, IT decision makers, and LOB people, style or look has little weight on the choice of corporate technology devices when compared to other features or aspects such as purchase and support cost, manageability, durability, and ease of deployment and repair. Same is true with employees who place more value on ease of use, application availability, and security.
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