Results from a survey of nearly 750 IT professionals on the effect that personal devices have on business demonstrating the growing “Consumerisation of IT” trend.
It’s claimed that many (62 percent) IT managers feel they lack the necessary tools to properly manage personal devices. Conducted by Dimensional Research and commissioned by Dell KACE, the survey suggested 87 percent of companies have employees that use some kind of personal device for work including laptops, smartphones and tablet computers; however, they are unable to effectively protect corporate data and intellectual property as well as ensure compliance.
What they say
Diane Hagglund, senior research analyst for Dimensional Research and the study’s author, said: “Consumer products are evolving into viable businesses tools, but according to our research, the majority of companies do not have a proper strategy in place to manage these devices. This opens them up to serious security risks. Consumerisation of IT is not simply a passing trend. It is the way business will be conducted on an ongoing basis, especially in the small and medium business (SMB) market, so it is critical that companies put policies and standards into place to support these devices, and ensure the security of corporate and intellectual property.”
Personal devices continue to proliferate across businesses as users see the value in being more mobile, efficient and connected. The aim of the “Consumerisation of IT: A Survey of IT Professionals” study was to gather data about the use of employee personal devices for business and corporate policy for their adoption in the workplace. According to the research, security needs top the list for IT managers when it comes to managing external mobile devices with 82 percent citing their concerns about the use of personal devices for business use, and another 62 percent specifically concerned about network security breaches.
Survey findings include:
•87 percent of respondents reported employees use personal devices for work purposes;
•59 percent reported their personal devices have created the need for organisations to support multiple operating systems (OSs). Further, 60 percent reported a greater demand for support of Mac OS X since the introduction of the Apple iPad and iPhone;
•82 percent of survey respondents cited they have concerns about the use of personal devices for work purposes;
•64 percent revealed they are not confident that they know of all personal devices being used for business purposes;
•32 percent revealed employees use unauthorised personal devices and applications to connect to their network;
•88 percent said they believe it is important to have a policy in place to support personal devices, and another 62 percent revealed their organisation lacks the necessary tools to manage personal devices.
“The results of our latest survey represent a significant shift in how systems administrators manage their organisation’s networks with today’s disparate and potentially global workforce. It’s absolutely essential that IT teams deploy a strategy that provides end-to-end management capabilities on a variety of operating systems to effectively protect networks and address the consumerisation and personalisation of IT,” said Rob Meinhardt, general manager and co-founder for Dell KACE.
Survey
In August 2011, an independent database of IT professionals world-wide were invited to participate in a Web survey on the topic of Consumerisation of IT. A total of 741 respondents took the survey. Participants included front-line IT professionals (39 percent), IT managers (36 percent), IT executives (20 percent) and others. Participants represented a wide range of company size and industry verticals. Respondents were not compensated for participating in this survey except to be offered a copy of the final report. The full report can be accessed at:
http://www.kace.com/resources/Consumerization-of-IT-Survey-2011.
To learn more on the survey findings, you can join Dell KACE for a free webinar, “The Consumerisation of IT Survey: IT Managers Talk Prevalence, Plans and Pitfalls” on Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 10am PT/ 1pm ET. Register at: http://bit.ly/mXcQ1R.
