Nearly two thirds of European office workers believe their employers could do more to provide them with the mobile apps and devices they need for productivity, and these workers are filling the gaps themselves, according to a recent survey.
The research, commissioned by VMware and conducted by Vanson Bourne, also showed that 63% of office workers do not feel their employers' mobility policies provide the flexibility to work effectively on the move, and 39% consider mobility important enough that they would leave their current jobs if they were not allowed to use their mobile devices for work.
"This is evidence of an emerging class of mobile rebels with a real cause - a new wave of employees using mobile devices to their advantage, to work more effectively and drive innovation," says Chris Norton, regional director for southern Africa at VMware. "Many companies are playing catch-up to this trend; if workers aren't provided with the mobile resources they require, many will take the initiative and drive change themselves. Savvy businesses are recognising this and are prioritising formal mobility strategies to harness the initiative of their workers and deliver competitive edge."
The recognition of the gap in IT policies is echoed by IT itself. Some 47% of IT decision-makers do not feel their departments are capable of meeting the mobility needs of staff, but encouragingly, 72% have plans to implement bring your own device (BYOD) policies, or have already implemented them, largely in an effort to recruit and retain talent. More than half also intend to implement policies that treat remote data access as the norm.
Not addressing the tidal wave of mobility brings with it a number of security risks, since employees are going mobile whether IT likes it or not, and a lack of policy effectively relinquishes an enterprise's control over its own data, the study shows. Company information is widely being stored on personal devices without company control, a situation assumed to be the case by 62% of IT leaders. Nearly half of these leaders further believe that this information is likely to be commercially sensitive. Of employees surveyed, only a third were sure that data stored on personal devices was not commercially sensitive.
"Businesses must tread a fine line between embracing and promoting a flexible working culture, while protecting corporate intellectual property and customer data. There's a mobile uprising occurring, and it's creating management and security challenges for IT departments," says Norton.
"There's also a great opportunity here, however. VMware believes alternative ownership models for companies such as BYOD can be implemented using an integrated workforce mobility approach. This can help businesses improve workforce productivity, gain faster access to new innovation and achieve differentiation, without compromising information security or business resilience."
Share