How SAP prepared for BYOD

Enterprise software giant SAP® has never been shy about deploying and leveraging mobile devices. However, the call for a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environment presented new challenges to the company, CIO Oliver Bussmann says in an interview with industry news provider CIO Insight.

Shortly after SAP started deploying tablet computers to its workforce, many employees across the company began requesting permission to bring their own tablets from home. Instead of resisting this change, Bussmann notes, SAP embraced it. But the process necessitated a careful approach in order to be successful.

"We went from having the infrastructure in place for a few devices, to opening up an environment for tablets … increasing the number of applications to now more than 40, and opening it up for personal devices," Bussmann says of SAP's mobility evolution, according to CIO Insight.

He adds that the transition to BYOD may have been easier at SAP than at other companies because its leadership embraced mobility from the start.

But SAP isn't the only large organization that is making the transition to a BYOD mobility environment. ITworld reports that IBM® has plans in place to eventually include all of its 440,000 employees in a BYOD program.