I learnt a new acronym while editing this issue of SA Instrumentation and Control, BYOD – bring your own device. On further investigation it turns out that, along with cloud computing, it is one of the hottest trends in IT today. Mobile computing is rapidly becoming the norm for enterprise IT with many employees owning a personal mobile device that they often choose to use for work. This is the essence of BYOD.
In an article that appeared in Infoworld, respected author and IT blogger, Bob Lewis, explains that BYOD will develop into a successful IT trend because there is simply nothing to stop it (http://tinyurl.com/btdqsr9). The motivation is founded on a brilliantly unfussy technique for predicting the success of a new technology by assessing the following three variables:
* Are the customer and consumer different people? (Customers make buying decisions about a product or service, in contrast to consumers, who are the people who use it.)
* Will the ‘wallet’ (the source of money) find the expenditure off-putting?
* Will the technology be disruptive when mixed together with the installed base?
It turns out that when BYOD is put to the test, the analysis looks like this:
Customer vs. consumer – for all intents and purposes, with BYOD, the customer and consumer are the same person. No problem with success on this front.
Affordability: By definition, the wallet has no problem with the expense. If the wallet did have a problem with the expense, the employee would not own the device in question and the issue of whether he or she might bring it into the office would never come up. Affordability is not a barrier, either.
Disruption: BYOD might cause disruption in three major areas – integration, information security and support – but as it turns out, not by very much.
BYOD in the process industry
What I found interesting is how the third variable, disruption, might turn out to be more of a problem when considered in a process industry context. In an article in this issue, ‘Industrial considerations for BYOD’, ARC analyst Larry Forbes discusses mobility and convergence as the core value propositions in a trend that is beginning to gain a toe-hold in the process industries.
Forbes points out that while plant managers are taking note, they have legitimate security concerns. And, perhaps more importantly, in refineries, chemical plants, mines, and other industrial facilities with hazardous areas, the field devices must be certified to operate in those environments – a requirement that excludes most consumer products.
One of the biggest challenges with respect to BYOD, in these industrial environments, is that it puts enterprise IT onto the fastest of fast-paced consumer electronics platforms. Repackaging of smart devices for extra industrial ruggedness is generally not a problem and is usually available immediately. Also, due to platform convergence, industrial versions of smart devices can be developed at more favourable price/volume tradeoffs than was possible with past handheld platforms; examples of these new products are reaching the market now.
However, challenges remain for manufacturing organisations as well as third-party software developers. The rapid churn in consumer electronics is a barrier to device certification for hazardous area operation. The certification process can take up to two years and by the time it is completed, a consumer device is likely to be at the end of its anticipated product life. Unless the certification process can be speeded up substantially, this will remain a serious obstacle to acceptance. (More in 'Industrial considerations for BYOD'.)
Process Expo 2013
On behalf of the SA Instrumentation and Control team, we hope to see you all at Nasrec from 21–23 May.
Steven Meyer
Editor: SA Instrumentation & Control
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