Kimberly Hancher, CIO of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Discusses BYOD Successes

This exclusive interview was published by Federal Technology Insider.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently implemented a Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) pilot program to meet urgent IT budget challenges.

As a result of the effort, the agency was able to achieve significant savings, while enhancing employee productivity – all while creating the ideal case study for other agencies to mirror. We recently had the opportunity to speak with the EEOC’s Chief Information Officer, Kimberly Hancher about this effort.

Federal Technology Insider: What was the driver behind the BYOD pilot program at the EEOC?

Hancher: Several years back, I attended a conference where leaders from the private sector were sharing their leadership challenges and key learnings in the emerging BYOD arena. During this time, we were facing a 15 percent IT budget reduction and I realized that I had to take some risks and think outside of the box.

Federal Technology Insider: Some have said that a BYOD policy does not result in a costs savings. How were you able to achieve some pretty significant reductions?

Hancher: We took a two-pronged approach in addressing the reduction of costs. Our first strategy was to look at the rate plans for our government-owned devices, and we found out that we were paying much more than we needed to. Through analysis and re-plan optimization, which involved sharing minutes and putting smart phones on the correct plans based on usage patterns, we were able to reduce costs close to 30 percent.

The second step was to reduce the number of devices in use. As such, we tapped into the community of employees that used both personal and government devices, and allowed them to opt-out of the Blackberry program and return their work devices. From there, we synchronized their personal devices through our mobile device management system

Want to read the rest of the interview? Go to Federal Technology Insider –http://federaltechnologyinsider.com/kimberly-hancher-cio-of-the-u-s-equal-employment-opportunity-commission-discusses-byod-successes/