Small and Mid-sized Businesses (SMBs) in Europe are witnessing productivity leaps of over 30% after integrating the use of employees’ personal communications devices into their businesses.
A survey by YouGov for virtual computing service provider Citrix Online found that consumerisation — a term used for allowing employees to use their personal devices such as iPads, iPhones and other Android-based gadgets — improves productivity for over 10% SMBs.
Senior executives and managers in 700 SMBs across the UK, France and Germany participated in the research. The survey examined how consumer-focused communications devices are being adopted in the workplace, as part of the broader move towards more flexible ways of working.
At the same time, the study found that one-third of firms are seeing gains of 10% and more, reflecting the dramatic impact of the consumerisation of technology in the workplace.
The consumerisation of IT has been rising up to corporate agenda recently, driven by increasing use of smartphones and tablet devices such as Apple’s iPads and iPhone or Google’s Android-based handsets.
The study found that 21% of UK businesses are under more pressure to introduce or increase mobile/flexible working practices compared to five years ago, with only 2% under less pressure. Though a significant shift, this is much lower than the European average of 36%, said YouGov.
The greatest impetus for change, found the study, is no longer coming from external commercial forces but internally from employees, as they look to improve work/life balance by using personal communication tools for business as well as social purposes.
Citrix Online EMEA marketing senior director Andrew Millard calls this a "huge" change.
Millard said, "As the boundaries between office hours and personal time become less distinct, managers are losing control of how people ‘work’, as individuals want to prioritise what they do.
"It is no surprise therefore that there is so much resistance to workshifting, as managers have to move to evaluating performance on results over time rather than on the basis of physically seeing them working at their desks.
Milard also added that consumerisation allowed employees to prioritise their work effectively.
"The good news is that these devices enable employees to take charge of their time, by self-prioritising in an effective and controlled way," Milard said.
However, the survey also found that security continues to be the chief concern for companies.
Millard said that it is more worryingly that "despite concerns over data security, more than half of those firms questioned are not aware of all the devices being used by their staff for business.
"Of even greater concern, a similar number have no controls in place to monitor or control such a rapid expansion in the use of non-company devices on behalf of the business."
The survey found that 32% of firms are most concerned over the security implications of allowing application and document downloads (highlighted by 32%) and remote access to the corporate network (29%).
Historic concerns over employees being distracted by using their devices for personal purposes during working hours also remain at the top of the corporate agenda (32%).
However, in 45% of firms surveyed, employees already use their own devices for business purposes and only half of UK firms (54%) are aware of all the devices their staff are using for business purposes – yet even this is well ahead of the European average of just 43%.
The study said that 57% have no policy, procedures or IT systems in place to manage the use of personal devices for business purposes.
Millard said, "By seizing the opportunities which a ‘work anywhere, with anyone’ approach offers – for example through the adoption of affordable, easy-to-use collaboration tools – the business can drive improvements in customer satisfaction, productivity, and staff satisfaction. Properly monitored and managed therefore, everybody wins."
Last year in December, analyst at Quocirca Bob Tarzey had advocated consumerisation.
Tarzey said that the best way for organisations to control the consumerisation of IT is to accept it is happening and embrace it rather than banning the use of personal devices for work use.
"You can’t ban the use of personal devices at work," he said. "People will use personal devices whether or not you ban them. If you try and control what employees can do at work they are more likely to use personal devices they bring in. Unless you confiscate them at the door, you can’t stop it."
Managed services and cloud computing service provider Advanced 365 managing director Neil Cross has said many organisations still insist that employees only use recognised and secure IT devices on their company’s infrastructure.
However, as tech savvy office workers seek to use the latest mobile IT devices in preference to using ageing company PCs and laptops, network security concerns are inevitably resurfacing.
"To address this challenge, it is essential that organisations ensure that their employees have authentication, identity verification and security applications installed on their IT devices before allowing them to access their corporate network," Cross said.
