Are unapproved devices within your network?

Businesses are allowing unapproved devices to be used within their business as workers increasingly want to use their own computers at work before companies draw up bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policies.

This is diverting attention away from IT projects. A total of 44% of IT managers said that handling issues around staff bringing their own devices was wasting time and reducing the time spent on other IT projects.

According to research commissioned by Cisco and carried out by Redshift Research, 48% of the 1,500 IT managers in Europe and North America surveyed said their businesses would never authorise the use of employees’ own devices. But it also revealed that 57% believed workers are using their own devices without permission.

Furthermore, over half (51%) of those interviewed said that the number of workers bringing their own devices to work was increasing.

The US reported the highest number of businesses where workers were using their own devices without consent, with 63% of IT managers saying this was the case.

Despite the distraction, most CIOs support schemes to allow employees to use their own devices at work, according to the Technology Industry Survey 2012 of 650 IT professionals, conducted by IT recruitment firm Mortimer Spinks and Computer Weekly.

The survey revealed that 60% of CIOs and CTOs think employees owning and operating their own IT equipment would be a good thing for the IT department.

As published by Computer Weekly
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UK IT budgets under pressure in 2012

UK IT budgets will remain flat in 2012, a worldwide survey of more than 2,500 IT professionals has revealed.

The Computer Weekly and Tech Target survey, which had responses from more than 200 UK senior IT professionals, showed that IT spending in Europe has been hit harder by the recession than spending in the US and Asia.

In the UK, 50% of IT professionals said their IT spending would either decrease or remain the same in 2012.

Nearly 40% of UK IT professionals said their organisations are recovering slowly from the downturn, and 30% said they are still struggling.

IT investment
Despite the tough economic conditions, some 38% of IT professionals expected their IT budgets to increase in 2012, with 21% expecting an increase of 5% or more.

“I think what you are seeing now is the realisation from some IT departments that they can’t delay spending any more,” said Ovum analyst Roy Illsley, commenting on the research findings.

“Some people have really cut back too far, and others realise if they make investments now, that would make them more agile when the upturn comes,” he added.

IT supports business growth
The focus for 29% of UK IT departments in 2012 will be to expand IT to support the growth of the business, with business analytics featuring strongly in many organisations' plans.

Around a quarter will concentrate their spending in a few key areas of IT, while 19% aim to reduce business costs by automating business processes.

Some 15% of IT departments have the more modest ambition of maintaining their service levels despite a flat budget, while 14% will focus on reducing their IT spending.

As published by Computer Weekly