Firms should swim with the IT tide
BUSINESSES in Northern Ireland are being swamped with employees bringing smartphones and tablets into the office following Christmas and the January sales. But 64 per cent of companies in the area are trying to swim against the tide and just don’t want employees to bring these devices into work. Security is the overriding concern - over a third of UK businesses said it was the main reason why they don’t want this to continue.
I’d suggest companies in Northern Ireland need to take a different approach and try to manage the tide of consumer devices at work rather than try and block them off. Savvy companies can use this to their advantage. For instance, “buy your own device” schemes are growing in popularity. These schemes use an employee’s knowledge of a particular bit of kit to allow them to buy a device they can use solely at work.
It means employees get the device they work best with and businesses can manage those devices right from the start.
The fact is not everyone works in exactly the same way and the same is true with using technology. By working with employees to give them the technology they crave and putting in place the policies to ensure they use them safely, businesses can embrace the consumerisation of IT rather than shy away from it.
Alan Worthing
Virgin Media Business
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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