Hi everyone,

I have what would seem to be a simple question among all the action going on around BYOD…

Is there a broad delineation of what devices are considered “YO” and which ones are not?

1) B2E Scenario

a – Device issued by the company (both device and subscription paid directly) – employee does not pay anything (within AUP).
b – Device bought by the employee (some level of reimbursement), subscription paid for by the company.
c – Device bought by the employee, and the employee signed the subscription contract. Company provides full reimbursement of the subscription (within AUP).
d – Device bought by the employee, and the employee signed the subscription contract. Company provides partial reimbursement of the subscription (within AUP).
e – Device bought by the employee, and the employee signed the subscription contract. Company provides opportunistic reimbursement, for example during business trips (within AUP).
f – Device bought by the employee, and the employee signed the subscription contract. Company does not reimburse anything.

2) B2B scenario (i.e. not your employees, but contractors, partners, distributors etc…)

a – company “provides” the partner with a device – partner pays for subscription (if any)
b – partner owned device and subscription
c – others?

Where do you draw the line? Can we even draw a line?
It will impact the definition of policies, acceptable use, litigation exposure and also MDM/MAM practices.

In the end I am wondering if the core issues with BYOD are really linked to the “ownership” of the device of something else? Maybe who “pays”, or who “controls”…

An analogy that may apply in the future is that, for example, when I use my personal vehicle for a business trip my personal car insurance may not work and I may have to use my employer insurance. What is the equivalent in the “mobile” world?

Thanks,
Guillaume.
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