Global Survey Dispels Myths About the Consumerization of IT in Canada

Avanade, a business innovation solutions and managed servicesprovider, today announced the release of its report, Dispelling SixMyths of Consumerization of IT, based on a survey of more than 600senior business and IT leaders conducted in 17 countries. The reportchallenges commonly held beliefs about the consumerization of IT --including executive perspectives on Millennials as the driving force,employee brand preferences, and hesitance of business leaders toembrace the trend. The report as well found an unstoppable shift in theuse of consumer technologies in the workplace and significant ITinvestments being made to manage this trend. Globally, 88 percent ofexecutives and 87 percent in Canada report employees are using theirown personal computing technologies for business purposes today.

Much has been made of companies embracing "bring your own device"(BYOD) policies to accommodate younger employees and attract the bestnew recruits. But, according to executive respondents, allowingpersonal technologies in the workplace is not a strong recruitment orretention tool. Less than one-third of business leaders have changed policies to maketheir workplace more appealing to younger employees. Even fewer believe allowing personalcomputing technologies in the enterprise will benefit recruitment andretention efforts.

In fact, when asked about the impact of personal computingtechnologies on company culture, the majority of executiverespondents said thegreatest outcome was the ability for their employees to work fromanywhere, followed by their employees being more willing to workafter hours.

"Our innovation shows more than three quarters of Canadian executivesare comfortable with employees bringing their own devices into theworkplace and this is a great indicator that business environmentsand mindsets are changing," said Benoit Bertrand, vice president andchief research officer at Avanade Canada. "To capitalize on thebenefits consumer technologies can bring to the workplace, businessleaders should consider extending existing application investments tomaximize the new way employees work."

Though media coverage has made iPhones and iPads synonymous with theconsumerization of IT, Avanade's survey found that during Apple iscertainly a factor in the consumerization of IT, it is far from alonein driving the trend. According to business and IT leaders, the mostpopular consumer-owned devices being used in the enterprise areAndroid smartphones, BlackBerry smartphones and Apple laptops.

Another related myth is that these devices are being used to checkemail and browse social networks. However Avanade's technology revealed amajor shift in the way employees are using their personaltechnologies in the enterprise. Employees have evolved beyondstraight content consumption -- checking email or Facebook -- and arenow increasingly using mission-critical enterprise applications.

Despite perceptions that businesses are hesitant to embrace theconsumerization of IT, Avanade's global survey found companies areembracing the change and it is executives at the highest levels inthe enterprise leading the charge. Key findings include:

"Progressive CIOs and IT organizations have moved from gatekeepers ofconsumer research to enablers of these innovative devices,applications and services to meet employee needs and demands," saidTyson Hartman, Avanade's global chief research officer. "Theconsumerization of IT provides companies with an possibility totransform the role of IT from a function focused on mitigating riskinto a strategic enabler that leverages the breadth of today'spowerful consumer technologies to drive business results."

Avanade's global survey was conducted by Wakefield Technology, anindependent technology firm, in October to November 2011, and surveyed605 C-level executives, IT decision makers and business unit leadersat top companies located in 17 countries across North America,Europe, South America and Asia.

About Avanade Avanade provides business innovation solutions andmanaged services that connect insight, technology and expertise inMicrosoft(R) technologies to help clients realize results. Ourpeople have helped thousands of organizations in all industriesimprove business agility, employee productivity, and customerloyalty. Avanade combines the collective business, technical andindustry expertise of its worldwide network of experts with the rigorof an industrialized delivery model to provide high-quality solutionsusing proven and emerging technologies with flexible deploymentmodels -- on premises, cloud-based or outsourced. Avanade, which ismajority-owned by Accenture, was founded in 2000 by Accenture LLP andMicrosoft Corporation and has roughly 15,000 professionals inmore than 20 countries. Additional information can be found at www.avanade.com .