Cisco Survey: 62% of Fed Employees Say BYOD Policy 'Desirable'

Many federal employees still use smartphones for work purposes despite their agency’s lack of a policy on workers bringing their own mobile devices into the office, a Cisco and GovLoop survey says.

Nextgov reports the survey of 108 GovLoop members found 41 percent use their devices for email, 30 percent for reading and writing, 21 percent for social networking and 13 percent for business functions including entering time and expenses.

Sixty-two percent of respondents said a BYOD policy would be desirable or extremely desirable at their agency, while only 20 percent said their agency has implemented such a policy.

Many respondents highlighted potential roadblocks in implementing a BYOD policy at their agency, with 57 percent citing lack of organizational support, 55 percent saying their agency had no IT infrastructure to support the devices and 19 percent highlighting costs.

If their agency went down the BYOD route, 56 percent said the government should provide the devices.

In August, the White House updated its guidance for agencies on how to implement the BYOD approach.