IT bosses under pressure to support personal devices

09th March 2011

IT departments across the UK are being asked to provide support for personal devices in the workplace, according to research published by Good Technology.

In a survey of 100 businesses with more than 3,000 workers, around 56% of IT managers admitted to being put under pressure to support employee-owned devices. However, only one in ten said that they provide this kind of support.

36% of respondents said that they were reluctant to support personal devices due to security issues, while 32% said they were concerned by an overall lack of control.

Andrew Jacques, VP and GM for EMEA at Good Technology, said that the growing technology market has meant that “more and more people want to consolidate their work and personal devices”.

"The mobile landscape has changed dramatically in the past few years - with the advent of new platforms like iOS and Android, the mobile app phenomenon taking over consumer consciousness, and new form factors like tablets successfully being introduced," he added.

Although support for personal devices may be nominal at the current time, a number of respondents did acknowledge that it could help to reduce costs, increase productivity and boost employee satisfaction in the future.

The increasing popularity of smartphones and tablet devices has continued to cause problems for IT managers across the country.