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The survey of 100 UK senior IT decision makers was commissioned by Dimension Data, a global provider of ICT services and solutions, and undertaken by global analyst house, Ovum. Results found that:

• An increasing number of employees are ‘doing IT’ for themselves, using ‘freemium’ products when employers do not provide the tools they need. For instance, 65% of employees in medium to large enterprises that are using file sync and share products for work are using freemium consumer products
• 70% of UK organisations do not have a formal BYOD strategy, leaving the majority of employees to update and fully support their devices themselves
• However, IT departments are trying to accommodate end-user technologies to some extent, with 48% doing so at the discretion of the IT department

These findings show that while businesses are open to giving employees more freedom over the devices they use, many organisations are doing this on an ad-hoc basis without adopting a clear strategy – 37% admitted they are struggling to design a coherent approach.

According to Jim Barrett, End-User Computing Manager at Dimension Data in the UK, “Organisations can create an end-user computing strategy to help them prioritise employee device requirements and build a roadmap to support them. This strategy should go beyond supporting a desktop only computing environment, to taking a device-agnostic, user-centric focus, thus removing the need for employees to “do IT” for themselves and enable access to applications and data from any location.”

The importance of such a focus is acknowledged by the UK IT leaders that Ovum polled: 71% of respondents agreed that a flexible workforce that’s able to access data and applications anytime, anywhere, is important from a revenue and profitability perspective. Likewise 78% of those surveyed believed good customer service starts first and foremost with a responsive and flexible workforce.

The survey reveals that in spite of the enthusiasm for migrating towards a user-centric computing environment, a number of challenges are preventing them from implementation. Some 67% said that business risk and compliance is the primary barrier to adopting progressive policies, and 45% said they lack the requisite skills and resources to implement them. To further complicate the issue, IT departments say they’re juggling a growing number of differing priorities, needs and views from across the business when putting an end-user computing strategy in place. While the CIO’s priorities must be borne out in practice, 46% of survey respondents also confirmed that employees have a strong voice when it comes to making decisions affecting the end-user computing environment.

For IT directors to achieve success when evaluating their end-user computing requirements, Dimension Data recommends they take the following best practice approach:

• Build a strategy based on worker roles and business service architecture
• Strike a balance between user, business, and IT needs
• Think strategically then act tactically, but don’t carry out one without the other – this will help prioritise projects and ensure technology is deployed based on a clear strategy
• Remember to review the impact your strategy may have on software licensing, compliance and asset management practices

Adds Barrett: ‘While 58% of UK enterprises surveyed are already reassessing specific business processes and activities to take advantage of developments in mobile devices, a surprising 23% are either adopting a wait and see approach, or have no foreseeable plans in this regard.”

“Future competitive advantage will be created through data and analytics: business models will be shaped by cloud; and engagement will be powered by mobile and social technologies,” said Richard Edwards, Principal Analyst - Enterprise, Ovum.

“Continued growth in the use of employee owned devices and self-selected applications is changing the face of the end-user computing environment, yet many organisations continue with out-moded, desktop-only computing strategies that were conceived over a year ago. Workforce engagement must be a top priority if organisations are to flourish, and those organisations adopting a more progressive end-user computing environment are more likely to succeed” added Edwards.

To help businesses overcome end-user computing challenges, Dimension Data has established a dedicated End-user Computing Business Unit in 2013. The company launched its cloud-based Enterprise Mobility-as-a-Service offering, a platform that will help clients navigate through mobile transformation and eventually set up shared, cloud-based, user-centric workspaces. The service is scheduled for UK availability in 2015.