IT Departments Struggle to Meet Employee Demand to Support Personal Mobile Devices Due to Security Concerns
LONDON, February 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --
-- IT managers in large UK organisations (3,000+ employees) face increasing pressure from employees to allow the use of personal mobile devices in the enterprise
-- Security (36%) and lack of control over devices (32%) top the list of concerns for IT departments, holding back support for personal mobile devices
-- Despite being new to the market, 22% of companies already offer the option of tablets
-- Enterprise mobile apps were/are currently being developed by half of companies surveyed, but security concerns still holding back many IT managers
Large UK businesses are getting increased pressure from employees to support the use of personal mobile devices in the workplace, as the popularity of iPhones and Androids continues to climb, found a study released today by Good Technology, the leader in multiplatform enterprise mobility, and independent research firm Vanson Bourne. However, IT departments in these companies, with 3,000 or more employees, list security concerns and lack of control over the devices as the main factors holding them back.
Employees no longer want to carry two separate devices - one for work and one for personal use. But, while more than half of the IT managers surveyed feel pressure to support personal devices at work, only 10% currently do so in a comprehensive way. This is despite the business benefits that go with supporting personal phones, e.g. reduced costs, increased productivity and employee satisfaction. The survey also found that more than 70% of companies would allow personal devices to be used in the workplace if there were no security risks.
"With so many great options on the market, more and more people want to consolidate their work and personal devices, but the majority of UK businesses don't currently feel equipped to support these requests in a secure way," said Andrew Jacques, VP and GM for EMEA, Good Technology. "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. IT departments have a lot on their hands and are trying to react as quickly as they can."
Good Technology's UK enterprise mobility report, also found a surprisingly high penetration of tablet devices in the companies surveyed, with 22% already offering the option. Of those, 30% were financial services businesses, 19% technology, 17% professional services, 7% manufacturing and 32% other commercial companies.
In addition, the report looked at the use of mobile apps in the enterprise and found that adoption is still in its early days. Demand exists, with 80% of IT managers receiving requests to implement enterprise mobile apps, but only a third have approved their use. This seems poised to change, however, with more than half of the IT departments surveyed saying they plan to internally develop enterprise mobile apps this year. Priorities apps include communication (38%), support for finance and IT requests (35% each), and time tracking (29%).
As a leading provider of secure and managed enterprise mobility for iPhone, iPad, Android and other leading smartphone platforms, Good Technology has been driving the shift towards personal phones doubling as work phones, which is spurring substantial growth for the company. In 2010, more than 1,500 enterprises deployed the Good for Enterprise product. And with 62% of the companies surveyed still concerned with the security of mobile devices, the opportunity for Good's growth trajectory to continue is substantial.
* Vanson Bourne, on behalf of Good Technology, interviewed IT directors from 100 UK-based businesses with more than 3,000 employees in November 2010
About Good Technology
Good Technology, the leader in multiplatform enterprise mobility, combines enterprise-grade mobile security and control with an exceptional user experience for messaging and collaboration that allows users to connect and collaborate on their devices of choice. Good opens new possibilities for enterprises, government agencies, and end users to maximize business and personal productivity by providing secure, easy-to-use, and instant mobile access to data, applications and services on hundreds of mobile devices. For more information, visit the Good website at http://www.good.com.
Additional research findings
The usage of mobile devices in the enterprise - On average, 56% of employees are provided with mobile devices (three in five companies offering a choice of smart-phone), a number which is expected to rise 15% in 2011 because companies are willing to increase productivity (44%) on their currently supported devices or they want to offer new device option (26%). Curiously, despite being a relatively new device, almost a quarter of respondents supply employees with tablets, such as iPads.
Personal devices in the workplace - Half of IT departments surveyed did not support personal mobile devices that employees bring into the office. However, 56% of respondents said they feel under pressure to be able to integrate employer device of choice into the enterprise, the main reason for that being 'security concerns' (36%), with ten respondents saying that if security was not an issue they would be open to employees using personal mobile devices in the workplace. The second reason mentioned by IT decision makers was 'lack of control over the device' (32%), implying that, despite the common usage of mobile devices, personal mobile devices cause management issues in the majority of large organisations.
Security concerns - According to the survey, 62% of respondents have concerns regarding security around the use of mobile phones in the workplace. These security concerns are higher among technology (75%) and financial/business professional services (63%). Although only 27% of respondents referred they had security breaches due to unauthorised devices being brought into the work place.
The main security issues pointed out by IT decision makers are the theft or loss of mobile devices (62%) (and the data stored on them), and the introduction of malware/viruses to the company network (50%).
Mobile apps in the enterprise - Together with the increase in the usage of smartphones both for personal and business purposes, mobile apps usage are registering an enormous success, therefore this study intended to find out IT managers' opinions about mobile apps usage in the enterprise.
According to the survey 64% of IT managers surveyed said their company has an app policy. However only 36% mentioned they have a list of mobile enterprise apps their employees can use, despite 64% replied they were aware that there are apps available to specifically address enterprise activities.
The apps permitted for employee use are most likely to address the areas of finance (44%), time tracking and IT requests (both 42%).
For more information, or a full copy of the report, please contact: Laura Lynne, Sparkpr for Good Technology +44-(0)7966-378-683
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