COPE and BYOD: Two Options for Mobile Device Management

With mobile devices playing a crucial role in modern business  it’s extremely important to have a clear plan for managing them. Unfortunately, this isn’t so cut and dry. Today, we’ll explore the differences between two of the most popular mobile management strategies: Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and Corporate-Owned, Personally Enabled (COPE).

Mobile Device Management

Mobile Device Management (MDM) refers to both the process of managing mobile devices and the software used to facilitate their management. Since most employees have smartphones, and some businesses provide devices to their staff, MDM software is used to control how these devices interact with the company network.

Bring Your Own Device 

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) allows employees to use their personal devices for work. This approach offers convenience and flexibility, enabling employees to access company resources from their own devices. BYOD is a great option to boost productivity since they are familiar with their own devices and don’t have to move off them to learn new software, or carry around multiple devices. Organizations adopting BYOD have to implement robust data security measures, however, particularly as a significant portion of the workforce operates remotely (about 12.2% fully remote; 28% part-time).

Corporate Owned, Personally Enabled

In contrast to BYOD, Corporate-Owned, Personally Enabled (COPE) is a strategy where the company provides and manages the mobile devices that its employees use. This approach gives organizations full control over device usage, ensuring compliance with security policies. This is critical for safeguarding company data. While COPE management offers comprehensive control, it also requires the organization to bear the costs associated with hardware, software, and security.

Whether you choose BYOD or COPE, the IT professionals at Computerware can help you implement a mobile management platform that enhances both productivity and security. For more information, contact us today at (703) 821-8200.