--- title: The BYOD Balancing Act description: With Gartner expecting the mobile device management (MDM) market to be worth $1.6 billion by 2014, it’s obvious that the industry has become very prominent. But, the MDM market is still evolving at a feverish pace. Just take a look at the average employee’s bring-your-own-device (BYOD) habits. Smartphones, tablets and laptops are all part of one big mix during the work day. Thanks to the growth and of mobile devices and the emergence of more mobility apps the needs of the mobile enterprise and their users is quickly evolving from being device-centric to being data-centric. canonical_url: https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/byod-balancing-act/ locale: en last_updated: 2026-10-27 --- [Acronis Blog](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/) # The BYOD Balancing Act With Gartner expecting the mobile device management (MDM) market to be worth $1.6 billion by 2014, it’s obvious that the industry has become very prominent. But, the MDM market is still evolving at a feverish pace. Just take a look at the average employee’s bring-your-own-device (BYOD) habits. Smartphones, tablets and laptops are all part of one big mix during the work day. Thanks to the growth and of mobile devices and the emergence of more mobility apps the needs of the mobile enterprise and their users is quickly evolving from being device-centric to being data-centric. [Learn More](https://www.acronis.com/en/products/cyber-protect/) [![Image 2: Acronis Editorial Team](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/d85707ae91461544212d39836dc32b42.png)](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/acronis/ "Acronis Editorial Team") [Acronis Editorial Team](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/authors/acronis/) 1 min read Last updated 24 April 2017 With Gartner expecting the mobile device management (MDM) market to [be worth $1.6 billion](http://www.crn.com/news/security/240156399/mobile-device-management-market-wont-last-gartner.htm) by 2014, it’s obvious that the industry has become very prominent. But, the MDM market is still evolving at a feverish pace. Just take a look at the average employee’s bring-your-own-device (BYOD) habits. Smartphones, tablets and laptops are all part of one big mix during the work day. Thanks to the growth and of mobile devices and the emergence of more mobility apps the needs of the mobile enterprise and their users is quickly evolving from being device-centric to being data-centric. While the market is still young, there’s an emerging trend of commoditization here. MDM is critical and the foundation for many mobility strategies put together by IT departments. But we also have to address the needs of the users. And their need for content (data). They don’t mind if IT is securing their devices, but they certainly don’t want it to interfere with their work. So IT needs to balance the need for security, and management, with the needs of their users for a seamless and efficient experience. This balancing act can be tricky. More security measures can mean less flexibility, and that’s why employees so often look for workarounds. What IT needs is something that I simple for the enduser, secure to protect corporate data assets and managed so that IT stays in control. Mobile File Management (MFM) solutions such as Acronis mobilEcho, can help IT find the right mix. For example, mobilEcho allows organizations to provide secure mobile file access to enterprise servers, SharePoint and NAS devices. **MDM and MFM for BYOD** The question IT faces is how to allow for BYOD habits to continue without putting the workplace at risk _and_ without impeding employee productivity? That’s [where mobile file management (MFM) and MDM meet](http://www.acronis.com/enterprise/products/activecho/index.html). These solutions are complementary and can create a secure and seamless experience for both the user accessing files and the IT department who needs to secure and manage the environment. Looking forward a few years, companies will need MDM and MFM in the future, but keeping devices and files secure will be part of a much larger process. As enterprises look for ways to keep a grip on the free exchange of data between employee devices, it won’t just be traditional MDM technology they’ll want, it’ll be something that enables a comprehensive and seamless mobile experience for workers and for IT. [Cybersecurity](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/cybersecurity/) [Cyber protection](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/tags/cyber-protection/) ## Written by ![Image 3: Acronis Editorial Team](https://staticfiles.acronis.com/images/content/d85707ae91461544212d39836dc32b42.png) Acronis Editorial Team Acronis is a global cyber protection company that provides natively integrated cybersecurity, data protection, and endpoint management for managed service providers (MSPs), small and medium businesses (SMBs), and enterprise IT departments. [Previous post](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/any-any-hypervisor-image-recovery/) [Any-to-Any Hypervisor Image Recovery](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/any-any-hypervisor-image-recovery/) [Next post](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/acronis-launches-2013-data-protection-trends-research/) [Acronis Launches 2013 Data Protection Trends Research](https://www.acronis.com/en/blog/posts/acronis-launches-2013-data-protection-trends-research/) About Acronis Acronis is a leader in AI-native cyber protection, unifying data protection, cybersecurity, IT operations and hybrid infrastructure to deliver business continuity, security and compliance with less cost and complexity. More than 21,000 service providers trust Acronis to protect over 750,000 businesses in 150 countries. Acronis is headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. [Add as a preferred source on Google](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=acronis.com) ## Related stories Want to learn more? 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