Almost three years ago, the first iPad was introduced. Today, more than 33 percent of U.S. adults either own an eReader or a tablet, and a recent survey found that 38 percent of U.S. adults ages 18 to 34 would consider replacing their laptop with a tablet in 2013. This brings us to bring your own device (BYOD), a phenomenon that has made its way into companies all over the nation, and, according to a recent report, is only continuing to increase in adoption.

In its second annual “State of BYOD” report, Good Technology (News - Alert), a provider of secure mobility solutions that enable users to connect and collaborate on their devices of choice, found more enterprises are embracing BYOD and companies that indicated they had no plans to support BYOD dropped from nine to five percent year-over-year, suggesting that BYOD is becoming more inevitable for the enterprise.

The study also found that large enterprises are the most active when it comes to BYOD; 75 percent of them supporting BYOD have 2,000 or more employees and 46 percent have 10,000 or more employees. Although there has been a lot of talk about security concerns brought on by BYOD, this study finds that is not the case. The financial services, insurance, government and healthcare industries continue to be among the biggest supporters of BYOD.

“It is clear that companies are supporting BYOD in large numbers as it gives employees the choice to use the devices that make them most productive,” said Chris Hazelton, research director for Mobile and Wireless at 451 Research, in a statement. “While there is a lot of focus on supporting and controlling the device, the next challenge for IT will be provisioning and securing large volumes of enterprise apps and data in BYOD deployments.”

Image via the State of BYOD Report

One defining aspect of the bring your own device trend is that it’s appropriately named – employees are bringing their own devices to work, meaning that they are covering all costs when it comes to their devices. Half of the companies surveyed with BYOD policies in place said employees are covering costs including device and data plans; however, 24 percent of respondents use a stipend to encourage employee participation and help cover costs. Meanwhile, 19 percent allow eligible employees to expense back mobile services costs.

Good Technology believes the increased adoption of BYOD has been driven largely by the continued consumerization of IT as well as an increased understanding of and access to information about best practices for supporting BYOD.

Although the number of companies adopting BYOD is continuing to rise, that doesn’t mean any security threats are good as gone. To embrace BYOD fully, adopting a mobile device management (MDM) solution helps ensure data is kept safe. MaaS360 from Fiberlink is a comprehensive cloud-based MDM solution that also offers app management, secure document sharing and mobile expense management. To learn more, Fiberlink is hosting a live demonstration of MaaS360 Thursday, Jan. 24 followed by a Q&A session with John Nielson, senior product manager at Fiberlink. Register today!

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO Miami 2013, Jan 29- Feb. 1 in Miami, Florida.  Stay in touch with everything happening at ITEXPO (News - Alert) (News - Alert). Follow us on Twitter.