While there is an ongoing discussion on Enterprise Mobile Hub that the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend is an inevitability, including by me, there are also advantages to standardizing on one approach.

Consider the following:

A research study from Strategy Analytics finds the BlackBerry Enterprise Solution to have a 39% lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) over a "Walled Garden" approach where a "non-BlackBerry device is given VPN access to a secure limited zone on a network and is managed by third-party MDM software" over a one-year period, Moreover, the "Walled Garden" approach is expected, according to the study, to cost more over time, as well. A full version of the report is available here (PDF).

According to the announcement, "The study, commissioned by Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ:RIMM)(TSX:RIM), considered typical industry best practices, using the UK government as an example. The entire mobile solution was examined, including device management and devices themselves for a 100 user smartphone deployment running at IL2, the minimum security standard for all Government departments including schools, health departments and local government."

For additional information and perspective, there's been some blog coverage of the study, including BerryReview and Mobile Enterprise.

In your opinion, does standardization and use of a single secure platform make sense? Or is a "Walled Garden" and the increased TCO it brings a necessary component given the BYOD trend? Share your thoughts in the "comments" below.