If you thought “consumerization of IT” was just a silly 2010 catchphrase, think again. According to a recent study conducted by IDC and Unisys, 95 percent of information workers use self-purchased technology at work. Unisys is calling it a revolution.
But as with every upheaval, there’s some pain to be had. In the same study, researchers note that while employees are using their iPads, iPhones, Androids and netbooks at work, their employers are unaware of the extent, and have not put solid plans in place to regulate the use of employee-owned devices.
Not only are they on a different page as their employers, they’re in another bookstore.
Here are some of the highlights from the study:
- Employers don’t have an accurate understanding of what and how many consumer technologies their employees are using in the workplace. For example, workers in the survey reported that they are using smart phones, laptops and mobile phones in the workplace at nearly twice the rate reported by employers.
- Workers are using consumer technologies and applications for business, but give their employers poor grades for the internal IT support they provide for these technologies. The researchers found that more than 40 percent of workers surveyed are using text and instant messaging, online communities and blogs for work. Also, industry analysts predict that the number of workers using smart phones for work will double between 2009 and 2014. Yet not even half of employers allow workers to access enterprise applications via smart phones.
- Employees say their employers are more permissive about use of consumer technologies than is reported to be case by organizations. Sixty-seven percent of workers say they can access non-work-related websites, but only 44 percent of employers say their employees can access non-work-related sites. Likewise, 52 percent of workers say that can store personal data on the company network, but only 37 percent of employers say this is the case.
- Employers expect to increase business use of social networking applications significantly in the next year, yet they are not integrating those applications with their enterprise apps and often lack basic guidelines and policies governing the use of social media in the workplace. Forty-six percent of workers surveyed are dissatisfied with their employers’ integration of consumer devices and social networks with enterprise applications. What’s more, 40 percent of organizations surveyed say that don’t have guidelines for social media use in the workplace.
Researchers conclude that, “While [information workers] are intimately familiar and facile with technology, they have little understanding of the security risks, management issues, and policy and governance implications that arise from mass introduction of consumer devices and applications into the workplace.”
In other words, preparedness — that’s IT’s job. And here are some suggestions from the study authors:
- Manage and support these popular consumer technologies;
- Secure critical data and assets against hackers, viruses, identity thieves, and other widespread consumer IT threats;
- Offer the interactive “app” experiences that consumers are looking for when transacting with their suppliers;
- Handle the expected increase in transaction load that these new interactive experiences will impose on the IT infrastructure;
- Attract and retain the new generation of workers entering the workforce.
In a recent post here and on Forbes.com, our CEO Brian Madocks offered his own suggestions. Read what he had to say.
Jenny Sweeney Android, BlackBerry, Customer Service, Help Desk, How To, iPad, iPhone, Mobile Devices, tablets, Windows Mobile
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