IT Departments Struggle to Meet Employee Demand to Support Personal Mobile Devices Due to Security Concerns

By Good Technology, PRNE
Wednesday, February 9, 2011

LONDON, February 10, 2011 - — IT managers in large UK organisations (3,000+ employees) face
increasing pressure from employees to allow the use of personal mobile
devices in the enterprise

— Security (36%) and lack of control over devices (32%) top the list of
concerns for IT departments, holding back support for personal mobile devices

— Despite being new to the market, 22% of companies already offer the
option of tablets

— Enterprise mobile apps were/are currently being developed by half of
companies surveyed, but security concerns still holding back many IT managers

Large UK businesses are getting increased pressure from employees to
support the use of personal mobile devices in the workplace, as the
popularity of iPhones and Androids continues to climb, found a study released
today by Good Technology, the leader in multiplatform enterprise mobility,
and independent research firm Vanson Bourne. However, IT departments in these
companies, with 3,000 or more employees, list security concerns and lack of
control over the devices as the main factors holding them back.

Employees no longer want to carry two separate devices - one for work and
one for personal use. But, while more than half of the IT managers surveyed
feel pressure to support personal devices at work, only 10% currently do so
in a comprehensive way. This is despite the business benefits that go with
supporting personal phones, e.g. reduced costs, increased productivity and
employee satisfaction. The survey also found that more than 70% of companies
would allow personal devices to be used in the workplace if there were no
security risks.

"With so many great options on the market, more and more people want to
consolidate their work and personal devices, but the majority of UK
businesses don't currently feel equipped to support these requests in a
secure way," said Andrew Jacques, VP and GM for EMEA, Good Technology. "The
mobile landscape has changed dramatically in the past few years - with the
advent of new platforms like iOS and Android, the mobile app phenomenon
taking over consumer consciousness, and new form factors like tablets
successfully being introduced. IT departments have a lot on their hands and
are trying to react as quickly as they can."

Good Technology's UK enterprise mobility report, also found a
surprisingly high penetration of tablet devices in the companies surveyed,
with 22% already offering the option. Of those, 30% were financial services
businesses, 19% technology, 17% professional services, 7% manufacturing and
32% other commercial companies.

In addition, the report looked at the use of mobile apps in the
enterprise and found that adoption is still in its early days. Demand exists,
with 80% of IT managers receiving requests to implement enterprise mobile
apps, but only a third have approved their use. This seems poised to change,
however, with more than half of the IT departments surveyed saying they plan
to internally develop enterprise mobile apps this year. Priorities apps
include communication (38%), support for finance and IT requests (35% each),
and time tracking (29%).

As a leading provider of secure and managed enterprise mobility for
iPhone, iPad, Android and other leading smartphone platforms, Good Technology
has been driving the shift towards personal phones doubling as work phones,
which is spurring substantial growth for the company. In 2010, more than
1,500 enterprises deployed the Good for Enterprise product. And with 62% of
the companies surveyed still concerned with the security of mobile devices,
the opportunity for Good's growth trajectory to continue is substantial.

* Vanson Bourne, on behalf of Good Technology, interviewed IT directors
from 100 UK-based businesses with more than 3,000 employees in November 2010

About Good Technology

Good Technology, the leader in multiplatform enterprise mobility,
combines enterprise-grade mobile security and control with an exceptional
user experience for messaging and collaboration that allows users to connect
and collaborate on their devices of choice. Good opens new possibilities for
enterprises, government agencies, and end users to maximize business and
personal productivity by providing secure, easy-to-use, and instant mobile
access to data, applications and services on hundreds of mobile devices. For
more information, visit the Good website at www.good.com.

Additional research findings

The usage of mobile devices in the enterprise - On average, 56% of
employees are provided with mobile devices (three in five companies offering
a choice of smart-phone), a number which is expected to rise 15% in 2011
because companies are willing to increase productivity (44%) on their
currently supported devices or they want to offer new device option (26%).
Curiously, despite being a relatively new device, almost a quarter of
respondents supply employees with tablets, such as iPads.

Personal devices in the workplace - Half of IT departments surveyed did
not support personal mobile devices that employees bring into the office.
However, 56% of respondents said they feel under pressure to be able to
integrate employer device of choice into the enterprise, the main reason for
that being 'security concerns' (36%), with ten respondents saying that if
security was not an issue they would be open to employees using personal
mobile devices in the workplace. The second reason mentioned by IT decision
makers was 'lack of control over the device' (32%), implying that, despite
the common usage of mobile devices, personal mobile devices cause management
issues in the majority of large organisations.

Security concerns - According to the survey, 62% of respondents have
concerns regarding security around the use of mobile phones in the workplace.
These security concerns are higher among technology (75%) and
financial/business professional services (63%). Although only 27% of
respondents referred they had security breaches due to unauthorised devices
being brought into the work place.

The main security issues pointed out by IT decision makers are the theft
or loss of mobile devices (62%) (and the data stored on them), and the
introduction of malware/viruses to the company network (50%).

Mobile apps in the enterprise - Together with the increase in the usage
of smartphones both for personal and business purposes, mobile apps usage are
registering an enormous success, therefore this study intended to find out IT
managers' opinions about mobile apps usage in the enterprise.

According to the survey 64% of IT managers surveyed said their company
has an app policy. However only 36% mentioned they have a list of mobile
enterprise apps their employees can use, despite 64% replied they were aware
that there are apps available to specifically address enterprise activities.

The apps permitted for employee use are most likely to address the areas
of finance (44%), time tracking and IT requests (both 42%).

    For more information, or a full copy of the report, please contact:
    Laura Lynne, Sparkpr for Good Technology
    +44-(0)7966-378-683

Laura Lynne of Sparkpr, +44-(0)7966-378-683, for Good Technology

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