Between the Lines

Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King

Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

By Rachel King | January 24, 2012, 8:00am PST

Summary: Nearly half of IT managers and executives polled in six leading economies said they would never let employees bring their own devices to work, according to Cisco.

Tablet computing in the enterprise world is about to hit a major turning point in 2012, but there are definitely some serious roadblocks ahead, according to a new report from Cisco.

The global survey found that IT departments are now getting one tablet request for every three smartphone requests. That could possibly be attributed the statistic that 48 percent of companies surveyed said that they would never authorize employees to bring their own devices to work.

That’s not good for proponents of the BYOD trend if nearly half of IT decision makers are still against the idea.

Of course, security is a serious and important concern here. But after citing lost and stolen devices as the number one deterrent to this trend, 44 percent of opponents said handling BYOD issues diverts IT attention from other important projects.

Despite all this, 57 percent of IT managers acknowledged some employees use personal devices at work without consent.

For reference, the study results are based upon the responses from 1,500 IT managers and executives in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain about their attitudes, fears and hopes for mobile devices within the enterprise.

Yet for the companies where employees are being given tablets by their IT departments, approvals differ based on country and status within the country.

For example, 31 percent of salespeople in Germany have tablets, while British counterparts are the least likely to get them at 14 percent.

Likewise, senior executives are most likely to be issued a tablet in the United States at 38 percent, but again, executives in the U.K are the least likely at 27 percent.

Looking forward, IT managers in Spain appear to be the most excited about the integration of tablets in the workplace with 90 percent of respondents replying that they believe the tablet will become more popular in the next two years.

[Image via Cisco]

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

More from “Between the Lines”

Verizon rides iPhone 4S, LTE in Q4 at expense of profit margins

Gartner: Apple jumped to top semiconductor company in 2011

Topics

Information Technology, Cisco Systems Inc., Tablets, Notebooks, Sales Strategy, Hardware, Notebooks & Tablets, Sales, Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Full Bio
Disclosure
Contact

Vendor HotSpot

Here to help you with your Document Management Needs

Read the DocuMentor blog now

Learn More »

Talkback Most Recent of 20 Talkback(s)

Follow via:: RSS; Email Alert

RE: Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

one of the issues is someone bringing in their own device into a corporate setting, and then relinquishing control of it, so that a company can put security measure on and around it.
tiderulz
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
RE: Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

@tiderulz the company has to protect themselves. Allowing unregulated devices on the company network, is asking for trouble.
Stephen-B
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
RE: Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

@Stephen-B - then the company can provide its own devices, rather than leeching off of everyone else and wanting it both ways.
HypnoToad72
24th Jan
- Flag
RE: Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

@tiderulz
Companies must protect their assets! BYOD is a recipe for disaster! Did half of my IT brethren fall and hit their heads? You can't secure a device you don't own. Own your network and tell Executives NO! Whose head will be on a lance after the next security breach? I have a feeling it won???t be Mr. Johnny Wannabe and his Mac crap!
Rob.sharp@...
31st Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
Nearly half? Does that not mean over half are at the very

least open to the idea/concept? Not bad for a fairly newish trend I think.

Pagan jim
James Quinn
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
It's probally been close to that way for many years

@James Quinn
William Farrel
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
Well over half even slightly over half is a big market

@William Farrel ... besides if there is enough success stories as time passes some of those agains the idea MIGHT be swayed.

Pagan jim
James Quinn
24th Jan
- Flag
RE: Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

I see today most tablets in the market are still for for entertainment, consumption and big corporations won't invest in tablets until they are capable of running legacy applications, MS-Office, support drivers for large monitor, mouse and keyboard. Hopefully when Windows 8 is released in 2nd half of 2012 all of these problems will be solved, we just have to wait for the price of Windows 8 tablets to see if they will cost less than traditional laptops.
Gabriel Hernandez
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
A lot more questions than that....

@Gabriel Hernandez ... Battery life, weight, and what good is MS Word on a tablet for instance? I mean in it's present form does it even do touch? Will a Windows Tablet running "OLD" software still be able to work effectively? Or will a corporation have to not only purchase tablets but a huge slew of new licenses for a new touch friendly MS application and if so how many? The cost could very well be well beyond what a given organization is will to shell out.

Pagan jim
James Quinn
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
RE: Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

Rachel, thank you for adding some color to the recent Cisco study???interesting and important information at hand.

It???s not surprising that 52% of businesses are adopting the Consumerization of IT, with the mobile market booming more than ever before. On the contrary, it???s also understandable that nearly half are still resisting the growing trend because of security concerns, etc. For those who have hopped on the BYOD bandwagon already, one of IT???s top priorities is helping users access company systems remotely AND securely in ever-changing complex environments.

This is only feasible when enterprise applications users??? access is tested, packaged and deployed across environments and platforms, and updated regularly. With the expansion of cloud and virtualization, it is nearly impossible for IT to take this task on manually and (as the study points out) would undoubtedly divert resources away from more pressing projects. But now, thanks to advanced automation and third-party Application Readiness tools, the enterprise can worry less about preparedness, and evolve more.
Toby Martin
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
It's interesting Cisco is behind the study

Given the prevalence of wi-fi, it's in their interests to encourage it... it means more business for them as companies buy their routers...

It's a shame wireless is easier to hack into as well...
HypnoToad72
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
IT isn't in the driver's seat anymore.

Companies are finding the benefits of the mobile workforce (primarily costs) outweigh the security concerns with BYOD. As a result, the lines between consumer and enterprise devices is getting blurry.
RunSilent23
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
RE: Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

Why can't I post a comment on this BLOG?
bobiroc
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
RE: Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

@bobiroc

To me BYOD is a double-edged sword in many cases. While it sounds nice in theory there are many other items that need to be taken into account when doing something like that. Here are a few key points I am awaiting answers on in my own organization listed in no particular order:

1. Who is going to support these devices and how much support do we give?
2. If the device breaks does the organization repair or provide a replacement even on a temporary basis?
3. Security - Extra background devices such as a Network Access Control (NAC) would have to be purchased to enforce security policies and access.
4. Liability - If the user of the BYOD does something illegal or questionable on the device is the company liable if it is done on and/or off the company network or company time.
bobiroc
24th Jan
- Reply to
- Flag
RE: Cisco: Nearly half of IT managers still against BYOD trend

@bobiroc

These are just the primary concerns many IT Managers and Professionals have about BYOD. I could go on listing examples but I know from my own organization we have been faced with security and liability risks from the few BYOD's we allow. We have had teachers bring in laptops to connect to our "Guest" WiFi and students were literally able to get into the computer and files remotely because of the user's lack of security by having no password and having several public shared folders containing tests and other sensitive documents. Teachers that do bring in their devices such as laptops, tablets, and phones seem to expect the internal Technology department to pay for and perform all repairs and replacements on their personal devices because after all "They use it for work". Then we have had several devices come in with Malware, Illegal P2P Applications, "Adult" Material, and other illegal/questionable information.
bobiroc
24th Jan
- Flag