How BYOD is impacting big data

BYOD and big data are two of the biggest IT trends of recent times, vying for attention from press, analysts and influencers all across the industry and beyond.

Yet these two trends are in fact interconnected. With employees using the same device at work as they do at home, each individual is now creating some truly significant data sets. But with competing tech eco-systems, is there a danger of big-data siloes forming? We look at the relationship between BYOD and big data and what it means for the technology industry. 

The rise and rise of BYOD
One could be forgiven for thinking that BYOD and big data are only peripherally connected. One relates to workers deploying their personal devices within a corporate IT environment, while the other refers to data so big and deep it requires analytic software and a big data infrastructure to make sense of and derive insight from it.

While current levels of BYOD deployment are small (but growing), analyst firm Frost & Sullivan recently predicted that by 2025, nearly 80 per cent of US enterprises will adopt BYOD. With other markets likely to have broadly similar use of BYOD, this means a massive majority of the world’s workers will be using a personal device of one form or another in a work context. Aside from the headache this brings IT staff, looking to keep data secure and their systems protected, it also means users will increasingly get locked into using one device and OS.

Apple fans will use their iPhones and iPads on the Apple OS, while Microsoft Surface tablet users will use Windows 8, or its equivalent at the time. When this occurs, IT departments will often push the related search engine, so Windows users will be directed to Bing and Android users to Google. When using one search engine at work, it is likely that a consumer will stick with that when browsing at home. This info can be used to better understand employees, security and much more besides, making BYOD a potentially huge contributor to big data in HR. But perhaps more importantly, it has major implications for the broader online world.

The power and reach of big data
The web is based on data and the tech giants’ search indexes rely on big data to constantly refine the service and deliver quicker and more accurate search results to consumers. Yet the tech giants also rely on devices running their platforms. They need these to deliver the data they need to help sell the myriad digital services they offer. This is a major and on-going battle between Google, Apple and Microsoft and the ability to lock users into a long-term relationship and keep their data within its walls is a powerful tool.

The battle for big data has really been focused on an individual consumer level up to this point. But as enterprises increasingly look to implement BYOD policies – making employees and executives happy – that big data battle just got much bigger.