More companies are adopting bring your own device (BYOD) programs, and that’s leading to higher profits and greater employee satisfaction, according to a new survey. 

Letting employees use their own personal smartphones, tablets and other devices for work can make the entire organization more efficient and productive, says a recent survey from conducted by Avanade.

Not surprisingly, the survey shows how far BYOD has taken off. Among the 600 business execs and IT decision-makers surveyed:

• 60% say employees are using personal devices
• 54% say employees are using smartphones for basic work tasks (email, reading documents, calendar), and
• 33% say employees use tablets for basic tasks.

But what is more surprising is that 33% also use tablets for advanced business tasks, such as CRM applications, content creation, project management and data analysis.

Bottom line: Personal mobile devices are being used in the workplace, and they’re being used for serious business. And that’s a good thing for companies.

Though IT departments have security concerns about corporate data being accessed by personal devices, when BYOD is properly managed it increases profits and productivity, says Avanade.

According to the survey, businesses that support BYOD are:

• 54% more likely to report increased profits, compared to organizations that aren’t leveraging mobile and consumer technology
• 37% more likely to report higher employee satisfaction, creativity and problem-solving ability
• 58% more likely to improve speed and agility when bring new products to the market, and
• 73% more likely to report increased sales through the use of collaboration tools.

Of course, there are still challenges preventing organizations from getting the most out of consumer technologies. The biggest issue, according to Avanade, is a lack of communication between business leaders and IT staff.

Those groups often aren’t on the same page. For example, 71% of executives believe mobile technology will allow employees to get more work done outside of the office, while just 32% of IT professionals said the same thing.

For businesses adopting BYOD programs, business leaders should sit down with IT to discuss what the the company hopes to accomplish with BYOD and determine what technical support is needed to make it possible.

Tags: mobile technology, productivity, smartphones, Tablets