Bring your own PC (BYOPC) is necessary, but licensing may be costly

The success of BYOD programs - where companies allow employee-owned smartphones and tablets onto the corporate network - is prompting some organisations to consider allowing employees to bring their own PCs onto the network as part of formal bring your own PC (BYOC) programs.

One supposed benefit of such a scheme is to save money - if employees pay for a machine, IT doesn’t have to.

But according to a new report penned by Gartner research VP Leslie Fiering called ‘Don’t Rush Into BYOPC’, this isn’t necessarily the case.

“Closer scrutiny reveals that BYOPC programs are complicated to implement and, in many scenarios, they actually raise costs,” Fiering wrote.

Unexpected costs may come in the form of software licensing. Even if the employee shoulders the capital cost of the machine, the organisation may still be liable for the licensing fees of business software on the employee’s PC.

According to Fiering, organisations undertaking BYOPC should create a full profile of all the enterprise applications that the employee may use on their own PC.

“The organisations will then need to investigate exactly what licensing terms and conditions apply to the BYOPCs and what changes may be required in the licensing agreements, or if the purchase of additional licenses or entitlements will be required to accommodate these systems,” she said.

This is complicated by the fact that many software vendors haven’t fully established formal BYO terms and conditions.

“It is important to review the BYO terms and conditions of every software application vendor used by PCs in a given organisation. The point is that due diligence is required to ensure that proper licensing terms and conditions are documented and upside cost surprises are avoided,” Fiering said.

Most organisations are likely to have an informal program that allows employees to use their own PCs on the corporate network, regardless of whether there’s a formal policy or not. There may even be a contingent of ‘rogue’ PCs on the network that IT is not aware of.

“As a result, BYOPC programs and policies are required, if for no other reason than to control informal and rogue access,” Fiering said.

However, this does not mean every organisation must immediately adopt a full BYOPC scheme.

“It’s possible to accommodate informal users by creating policies, processes and infrastructures that support existing BYOPC users,” Fiering wrote.

Pictured: Gartner research VP Leslie Fiering