Businesses Unprepared to Support New Mobile Ways of Working, According to Citrix Survey

Citrix today announced findings from a recent global survey that examined how consumer-focused communications devices are being increasingly adopted in the workplace. The data reveals that small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are coming under growing pressure to enable their employees to use their personal smartphones, tablets and other devices for business use. Some 25 percent of companies are already supporting the use of such devices in the workplace, and many are benefitting from a significant increase of 30 percent in productivity, as their employees are able to work anywhere, anytime from any device. However, 62 percent of businesses surveyed have no controls in place to manage these devices, and 45 percent of IT managers are unaware of all the devices being used, raising questions regarding security and privacy.

“The nature of work continues to change,” said Brett Caine, SVP and GM, Citrix. “The survey shows that employees are using new consumer devices in the workplace for both business and personal use. Organizations need to respond to this trend by developing policies to address new mobile work styles that can drive productivity through more flexible working, while safeguarding the use of data and sensitive information.”

The Citrix survey was undertaken to understand the global use and management of personal communications devices in the workplace to support the growing demands for workforce flexibility. Conducted by YouGov and Research Now between May 2011 and August 2011, the survey polled more than 1100 senior executives and IT managers across Australia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Results Summary

Over the past few years, businesses globally have come under significant commercial, regulatory and environmental pressure to enable greater workforce mobility. With this demand, 57 percent of IT managers are most concerned over the security implications of employees using personal devices for business. However, as indicated by the survey, more than half of business executives and IT managers are unaware of all personal devices used for business purposes, and lack an employee personal device policy.

Although many businesses lack a policy for managing employee’s personal devices for work, 38 percent of businesses globally do have a process or tool to manage and account for consumer devices. These organizations are encouraging flexible work and a personal device policy supported by the adoption of online support and monitoring tools that include the highest levels of security. Businesses that are quick to adapt to these changes are experiencing significant improvements in productivity when personal devices are also used for business purposes. Productivity has increased up to 20 percent for many organizations with a further 17 percent confirming even greater gains.

In response to the use of personal devices for work, a number of technology solutions are enabling businesses to take advantage of the benefits of workforce mobility, at the same time ensuring network security. For example, Citrix has extended its range of “GoTo” solutions to enable remote device monitoring and management, remote access, easy collaboration, secure file storage, transfer and sharing, and remote IT support via a range of consumer devices including the iPad, iPhone, as well as Android devices. Additionally, the full Citrix product portfolio, including XenDesktop, Receiver and VDI-in-a-Box, gives IT the power to say yes to personal devices and to deliver a mix of applications and data to them, without compromising security, manageability or user experience.

“It is no longer building for PC versus Mac,” said Caine. “It is designing for the ubiquitous device changing the nature of work to anywhere, anytime.”

Increasing Pressures for Flexible Work Practices Calls for New Thinking about IT

In addition to the proliferation of personal devices used for work, businesses are also feeling pressure to adopt more flexible work practices that promote better work-life balance for employees. According to this Citrix survey, 35 percent of the participants say they are under greater pressure than five years ago to offer more flexibility for employees.

As more companies adopt the practice of allowing the use of personal devices and embrace more flexible working schedules, an opportunity arises for IT to change the way they work. This includes adopting new services to proactively monitor, manage and support the increasing mobile workforce, ensuring business continuity and minimal lost productivity of people working away from the office. IT managers also need to be able to work more efficiently, supporting people and machines from anywhere.

“The growth of mobile devices, bridging both personal and work use, represents new opportunities for IT support. The edge of the company network is extended while software ubiquity and complexity rapidly increases,” said Elizabeth Cholawsky, VP and GM of IT Services, Citrix. “Enabling support, monitoring and managing remote and mobile workers is now a de facto requirement for IT to ensure highly productive and effective businesses.”

Survey Top Findings: Global

The dividing line between business and personal devices for work use has become increasingly blurred; less than half of IT managers, 45 percent, are unaware of all the personal devices being used by their staff for business purposes.
Businesses are seeing productivity gains of up to 36 percent from employees using both personal and business devices.
Bring Your Own (BYO) is becoming an accepted business practice for both SMB and enterprise with 25 percent supporting use of personal devices for business purposes.
Some 35 percent of participants say they are under greater pressure to adopt workforce flexibility practices, including flexibility in the devices used and places employees work.
Security still ranks #1 as an adoption barrier of allowing remote work for 57 percent of participants.
Surprisingly, 62 percent of participants have no process or tool to manage and account for the way consumer devices are being used with company data and services. The remaining 38 percent have processes and policies in place to manage and support personal devices, mitigating the risk of compromising their business.

Regional breakdownAustralia

More than 63 percent of participants have no policies, procedures or IT systems in place to manage the use of personal devices for business purposes.
Less than half of ANZ firms (47 percent) are aware of all the devices their staff is using for business purposes. This is well ahead of the European average of just 43 percent.
50 percent of businesses have recorded productivity improvements of more than 10 percent. Nineteen percent of businesses confirm productivity gains of more than 30 percent.
32 percent of firms are most concerned over the security implications of allowing application and document downloads, and 24 percent are concerned over remote access to the corporate network.

Germany

59 percent of participants are not aware of all the personal devices being used by staff on behalf of the business.
In 56 percent of German firms, employees already use their own devices for business purposes.
SMEs are most concerned over the security implications of allowing remote access to the corporate network (34 percent) and application and document downloads (29 percent).
However, by integrating business and personal use effectively, more than two in five businesses have recorded productivity improvements of up to 20 percent with a further 17 percent confirming even greater gains.

France

74 percent of all firms have no policies, procedures or IT systems in place to manage the use of personal devices for business purposes.
At the same time, only 32 percent are aware of all the devices their staff are using for business purposes – significantly below the European average of 43 percent.
In 61 percent of French firms, employees already use their own devices for business purposes.
More than 2 in 5 businesses (42 percent) have recorded productivity improvements of up to 20 percent, with a further 20 percent confirming even greater gains.

United Kingdom

57 percent have no policies, procedures or IT systems in place to manage the use of personal devices for business purposes.
Only half of UK firms (54 percent) are aware of all the devices their staff are using for business purposes - yet even this is well ahead of the European average of 43 percent.
In 45 percent of firms surveyed, employees already use their own devices for business purposes.
33 percent of businesses have recorded productivity improvements of more than 10 percent, with 11 percent confirming gains of more than 30 percent.
32 percent of firms are most concerned over the security implications of allowing application and document downloads and 29 percent are concerned over remote access to the corporate network.

U.S.

More than 67 percent have no policies, procedures or IT systems in place to manage the use of personal devices for business purposes.
Less than half of U.S. firms (46 percent) are aware of all the devices their staff are using for business purposes - yet even this is well ahead of the European average of just 43 percent.
53 percent of businesses have recorded productivity improvements of more than 10 percent, with 16 percent confirming gains of more than 30 percent.
32 percent of firms are most concerned over the security implications of allowing application and document downloads, and 23 percent are concerned over remote access to the corporate network.

About Citrix Systems, Inc.

Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CTXS) is a leading provider of virtual computing solutions that help people work and play from anywhere on any device. More than 250,000 enterprises rely on Citrix to create better ways for people, IT and business to work through virtual meetings, desktops and datacenters. Citrix virtualization, networking and cloud solutions deliver over 100 million corporate desktops and touch approximately 75 percent of Internet users each day. Citrix partners with over 10,000 companies in 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2010 was $1.87 billion. Learn more at www.citrix.com.

The Online Services Division of Citrix provides secure, easy-to-use cloud-based solutions that enable people to work from anywhere with anyone. Whether using GoToMeeting® to hold online meetings, GoToWebinar® to conduct larger web events, GoToTraining® to train customers or employees, GoToMyPC®to access and work on a remote Mac® or PC, GoToAssist® to support customers or GoToManage® for IT support and management, businesses and individuals are increasing productivity, decreasing travel costs and improving sales, training and service on a global basis. For more information, visit www.citrixonline.com.

Citrix®, GoToMeeting®, GoToWebinar®, GoToTraining® and HiDef Corporate® are trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. and/or one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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