Among the flurry of new mobile-enabled ideas we saw demonstrated on the expo floor of NRF’s Big Show this year, one of the common questions we had was, “Whose device can it be? ” If they don’t have to be hardened, industry-specific devices, do retailers eat the cost of providing consumer-grade mobile devices like iPads and iPods across the enterprise like they have at Lowe’s and Nordstrom, or is there a chance to leverage employee-owned devices? Clearly retailers can drastically mitigate the sizeable training costs associated with rolling out new mobile devices if associates already know and love the devices – and how to use them – but if retailers can properly address the integration, access, and security risks associated with leveraging employee-owned units, theoretically, it’s all the better.

Yesterday, we received heads-up about a high-end Chicago-based furnisher, Holly Hunt, who has kicked off just such a BYOD campaign with its employees. The company has been in business since the early 1980’s, and has 20 showrooms here in the US and a few internationally. This Bring Your Own Device strategy allows employees to bring their own smart devices (regardless of platform) into stores and warehouses to manage daily functions.

First and foremost, it’s worth noting that Holly Hunt had previously rolled out company-owned iPads, BlackBerries, and tablets to some of its sales force. From that pilot, it liked what it saw, and this is a key factor to the story. In some recent work we were doing for an entirely different retailer, the real question became “How do we even know if we want mobile devices in our stores? On paper they look like a customer-service home run, but how can we be assured employees will be using them in the helpful, assistive ways we want them to, and not just as another distraction to avoid interaction with the consumer? ” For that reason alone, it’s definitely wise for anyone retailer considering throwing a BYOD party to first make sure the mobile benefits are pre-established for its specific brand offering before opening the flood gates; always best to set some party dos-and-don’ts before you start letting attendees show up with whatever they want to bring.

Having been pleased with the results of a mobile-enabled sales force, however, Holly Hunt next turned to BoxTone, a vendor out of Maryland, to provide its Enterprise Mobility Management solution. The platform allows Holly Hunt employees to connect to the corporate network from their own iPhone, iPad, Android or RIM device. What’s especially interesting is that the idea wasn’t conjured up in an executive meeting aimed at increasing efficiency and lowering operating costs; instead, it was driven by demand from Holly Hunt employees. According to Neil Goodrich, director of Business Analytics and Technology at the retailer, the entire initiative was employee-driven. “Our employees’ requests for new enterprise-connected mobile devices sparked our interest to look at how we could implement a BYOD program into our corporate structure, while leveraging new mobile devices and their enterprise apps to bring additional advantages. ” If you’ve established that mobility holds benefit for your associates, it might we worth asking if they’d benefit from using their personally owned-devices, as well.

We’ll be paying close attention to how this project goes for the folks at Holly Hunt. Hopefully when party favors get lost, stolen, or invariably misused (as they most certainly will), we won’t be hearing about any negative effects as a result of 24/7 employee activity and/or access. And though the fashion/design/furniture nature of the company makes its challenges and opportunities slightly different than those a general merchandise, apparel, or specialty retailer would face, there will definitely be valuable lessons all retailers can learn about what it means – and how to throw – a BYOD party.