 "Consumerisation Of IT Helps Level The SME Playing Field Worldwide")
Increased adoption and personal use of advanced technology is paying dividends for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) around the world as the consumerisation of IT continues to expand, especially in developing countries. Survey research from International Data Corporation (IDC) found that SMEs in developing countries are much more likely to encourage the use of worker-owned technology, allowing employee smartphones, netbooks, and media tablets to be connected to company networks to run a host of different business applications.
“To remain competitive and increase efficiency, SMEs in developing countries are leveraging workers’ own technologies,” said Ray Boggs, vice president, Small and Medium Business Markets at IDC. “Despite the potential security risks, these SMEs continue to allow employees to gain access to the company network and related resources through their own devices.” This consumerisation of IT has important implications for technology providers as well as for firms competing against SMEs that are taking advantage of every productivity tool they can.
Additionally, SMEs in developed countries (e.g., the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan) typically indicate higher levels of advanced technology use, from notebook PC to wireless networks, than do similarly sized firms in developing countries (e.g., China, Brazil). However, the gap closes quickly when portable computing/communications products are added to the mix. SMEs in developing countries are keeping pace with their more developed counterparts when it comes to providing employees with smartphones, netbooks/mini notebooks, and media tablets. In some cases, they are actually more likely to provide these products to their staff.
Additional findings from IDC’s research include the following:
Independent of region, medium-sized firms are more likely to provide employees with advanced mobile devices than are small enterprises (SEs).
China SMEs are providing company-owned smartphones to employees most often.
- In developed countries, 33.7% of SEs and 46.7% of MEs indicated they provide access to the business network for employee-owned smartphones.