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IT SUPPORT STILL EXPECTED


Users still expect, want and need the same level of support. “As thousands of companies work to embrace and facilitate the use of personal devices in the workplace we look at the impact it is having on the IT Support team. IT departments are under growing pressure to support devices which fall outside their traditional remit and are dealing with high employee expectations around support of their personal devices,” says Pat Bolger, chief evangelist at Hornbill an ITSM technology provider.


Again, this suggests that IT departments simply can’t keep pace with the fast-changing mobile space with new models being released to the market frequently. Users believe that because they may use the device even occasionally for work that IT should give them support. “Research earlier this year found that 38% of employees believe the IT department should support their device regardless of how much it is used for work, while 40% will continue to use their own devices without permission from the IT department. While this may ring alarm bells for many businesses, it emphasises that personal devices have become so intrinsically linked with both the work and personal lives of UK workers that many do not draw a line between work or pleasure use. Setting employees’ expectations by introducing concise and clear policies around the use of personal devices will help ensure the IT department is not overstretching itself,” he concludes.


PEER-TO-PEER SUPPORT COULD SAVE MILLIONS We mustn’t forget that it’s the enthusiasm of the users to get their hands on the latest and greatest technology that has driven BYOD thus far. I can’t help thinking that if IT


departments harness this passion they can use it to their advantage. The research carried out by TNS on behalf of Hornbill found that over 80% of device users would first ask a colleague to resolve simple IT questions or problems rather than go to the IT department.


Cisco has encouraged and applied a BYOD policy since 2009. Giving employees the freedom to use their personal devices (tablets, smartphones etc) alongside their work devices harnesses the power of accessing information whenever and wherever they want. Ian Foddering, CTO & technical director, Cisco UKI “As a result, Cisco has seen a high adoption of employee funded devices, which are then supported, through an internal wiki, which has driven employee satisfaction while reducing cost to the business. Since introducing a BYOD policy, there has been a significant uptake in people using their own


Many companies still don’t have a formal policy in place and this can be risky from both the company’s perspective as well as the employee’s


Volume 22 – Issue 4 |December 2012 35


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