A new category of top performing organisations – termed Superusers are staffed by users demanding the hardware and software to use collaboration tools, mobility, remote access and cloud.
Today over half of UK workers (57 per cent) expect their IT department to provide remote access, while 60 per cent demand mobility and 48 per cent desktop virtualisation. These user expectations have emerged as employees become savvier about the growth of cloud services, with demand for BYOD (47 per cent) and content collaboration (38 per cent) expected to also increase in the future.
Martin Bishop, Head of Network, Applications & Services, Telstra Global Enterprise & Services, said one third of UK organisations have achieved Superuser status, with the manufacturing, mining and utilities sectors having a higher proportion of Superusers than others.
"According to Telstra’s research, employees from organisations classified as Superusers are not just demanding physical hardware for collaboration; they are expecting the software and services to enable them to do this, too," he said.
The research also revealed that despite a third of organisations achieving Superuser status, two thirds have not, with nine out of ten IT leaders stating they find it a challenge to effectively implement all the technology tools employees expect to use to communicate in the workplace, from telepresence to desktop virtualisation and enterprise social networks.
Despite UK IT leaders considering end-user expectations more than ever before, half claim their organisation has higher priority IT projects than delivering technology that meets employee’s needs. Telstra’s research warns that this could cause problems for the company, including shadow IT and additional costs.
"Today, employees are putting significant pressure on IT departments to provide them with the collaboration tools that enable remote working and mobility."
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"As a result, some businesses run the risk of employees bypassing the IT department and sourcing their own alternatives – in a trend known as shadow IT – potentially leaving the company exposed to security risks and hidden cost implications. Our research shows almost one third of UK organisations already find shadow IT challenging, with one in two larger enterprises citing this as a concern globally."
The research was carried out by Vanson Bourne in a poll of over 200 UK IT users
