More than 40 percent of college students and young employees said they would accept a lower-paying job that had more flexibility with regard to device choice and mobility than a higher-paying job with less flexibility, according to the Cisco Connected World Technology Report.

Employees are demanding not only to use their own devices at work, but also to have more flexibility in the way they work and when and where they work. To help companies meet these demands, Cisco is taking IT organizations beyond the basic step of connecting user-owned devices to the network by introducing a comprehensive approach that unifies policy, supports a better user experience and simplifies management to deliver an uncompromised user experience in any workspace.

“BYOD is not just about connecting user-owned devices and allowing guest access. It’s about what you do after that – that’s when things get interesting. Cisco goes beyond that first step to provide companies with a complete solution to tackle the BYOD phenomenon today and tomorrow, said Rebecca Jacoby, senior vice president and CIO, Cisco.

“The BYOD trend is here to stay, but companies must move beyond the basic act of connecting user-owned devices to a comprehensive BYOD strategy to meet employee demands. Unlike competitors, Cisco is approaching BYOD holistically. With a comprehensive strategy designed around the network, unified policy and simplified management, Cisco delivers an uncompromised user experience in any workspace, setting companies up for success now and into the future”, said Sujai Hajela, vice president and general manager, Wireless Networking Business Unit, Cisco.

A unified policy across wired, wireless local area network (LAN), cellular and VPN, achieved via enhancements to Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE), which allow for easy self-provisioning of a user’s device, and policy integrations with mobile device management (MDM) solutions.

An uncompromised user can experience over the entire wired/wireless network through updates to the wireless LAN infrastructure with Cisco Unified Wireless Network Software 7.2. The updates offer up to double the video scalability for multicast video, allow one controller to support up to 30,000 devices, and provide IPv6 support for client devices. These updates can help enhance the quality of collaboration applications such as Cisco Jabber and Cisco WebEx with real-time video over Cisco networks.

“Mobile communications traffic will continue to grow exponentially. This growth in traffic will strain wireless networks (WLAN and mobile cellular). It will require that enterprises and mobile communication service providers invest capital to improve network capacity, reliability, and manageability. In addition, enterprises have begun to embrace the policy of bring your own device (BYOD) as a way to satisfy user demands, potentially save money, and stop managing end-user hardware. Enterprises should consider a comprehensive approach to BYOD that balances security, user experience, and supportability”, said Paul DeBeasi, Research VP, Gartner.