Definition

CYOD (choose your own device)

What is CYOD (choose your own device)?

CYOD (choose your own device) is an employee provisioning model in which an organization allows people to select the mobile devices they would like to use, typically from a limited number of options.

CYOD is an alternative to the BYOD (bring your own device) model, which involves employees using their personal mobile devices for work-related tasks. The model is usually an example of the COPE (corporate-owned, personally-enabled) approach: Devices such as notebooks computers, tablets and smartphones are purchased by the business and issued to employees, who can use them both on and off the job. Typically, employees don't have administrative privileges -- they can customize the devices but have to put in requests with IT for any significant changes or software installations.

The differences between the mobile device ownership models.

The CYOD model can ease the administrative burden of mobile device management (MDM) and mobile application management (MAM) by limiting the options for device types and maintaining administrative control over device changes. This approach also makes it easier to protect the organization's data from both external and internal threats.

The CYOD model comes with other added complexities, such as increased cost and maintenance for the users' devices, user privacy concerns and navigating users that don't want to enroll in the program.

This was last updated in April 2023

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