Virtualisation is key to managing the march of IT consumerisation

The latest research from technology services company Unisys confirms that the consumerisation of IT is accelerating faster than ever before, leading experts to warn that IT leaders must think carefully before drawing up policy on the matter.

The Closing the Consumerisation Gap study, carried out by analyst firm IDC, found that three-quarters of senior IT executives believe that allowing consumer devices into the workplace will improve morale, while 60 per cent believe it will boost productivity.

Worldwide, 40 per cent of devices used to access business applications are personally owned, which is a 10 per cent increase from last year's survey.

However the study also found that IT executives underestimate the number of consumer smartphones and tablets used by their organisation.

In Europe, 73 per cent of staff use a personal smartphone for business purposes, but only 31 per cent of IT executives believe this to be true. In a similar way, 12 per cent of employees use personal tablets at work, but just seven per cent of IT executives reported this use.

Chris Lindsay, a senior director at BT's services arm, Engage IT, suggested organisations need to think now about how to cope with the influx of personal devices before they potentially become a hazard to the business.

"In some ways consumerisation is a much bigger problem than cloud computing, although it has probably received fewer column inches," he told V3.

"You could stick your head in the sand, but otherwise you have to look at the structural things you'll need to support it."

Private clouds or virtual desktop infrastructures can be set up to help take care of any security and management problems, said Lindsay. However there are still huge question marks over the types of 'structural things' IT managers should use to manage factors such as support and purchasing.