HP Survey – IT Teams Say Secure and Slick Are No. 1 Concerns

Research Commissioned by HP
By Mathew Thomas,
VP&MD, Middle East
HP Inc.

Dubai, UAE, May 30, 2016:  Until very recently, the Arab world had been playing IT-catch-up due to a lack of resources, both human and technical. That has changed on a grand scale thanks to a dynamic surge in the region's economies. Through pure necessity, the Middle East has had to get up to speed in terms of ICT capability from a technical and user side. 

However, along with the broadest business opportunities and widest working horizons, risk is still technology's greatest curse. A breach of PC safety is a data nightmare and despite the constant stream of warnings, the promise of extra precautions and plenty of burnt ICT fingers, a recent international survey commissioned by HP shows that nine out of ten IT decision makers still list device security as their number one concern.

Less than a third of those who took part in the study said they were entirely confident in the security offered by their fleet of PC products. Whether that is due to budget constraints, a lack of awareness or even complacency, if the IT experts are worried, there is a problem.

And that cause for concern may well be justified, as the research results show that a quarter of IT teams admitted their organization had suffered from a device security breach in the last 12 months.

Over a third of the IT decision makers we spoke to also said that their organization does not track non-work related activity on work PCs.

Today's workforce isn't restricted by the four walls of the office – we're working from home, during our commute and from customer sites. But communication is still the backbone of every company and devices need to support the most popular collaboration tools.

Having said that, nearly half of the 1,016 European IT decision makers that took part in the survey conducted by Redshift Research said they didn't currently have a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy in place. With remote access through BYODs playing such a pivotal role in so many organizations, this has to be a priority.

As many countries in the Middle East continue their move towards knowledge-based economies, mobile ICT has become integral to rapid business growth and potentially creates a greater risk than ever before. This is a crucial time to look towards not just new practices, but new devices and new attitudes. 

The lines are blurring between work and personal life. The workforce is increasingly composed of millennials who expect attractive consumer technology and want the same from devices in the workplace. Employees today want a device they feel good carrying around, from face-to-face meetings with clients to Skyping with friends from a cafe.

It's not surprising then that over three quarters of the IT teams we spoke to said they believed a well-designed work PC would increase job satisfaction and more than half stated that the most common reasons for staff being dissatisfied with their device is an unattractive design, or if it is too large or too heavy. 
The latest laptops, PCs and tablets have opened up the design doors for a whole new generation of working devices. Thankfully, the traditional heavy-handed, strength sapping laptops of old are no longer a regular fixture and the start-ups that rarely started are a thing of the past.

Today's employees want the best of both worlds. Business devices still need to offer the security, manageability and durability of traditional PCs, but our research shows that the aesthetics traditionally associated with consumer devices are also a priority.

As a city that relishes chic and prides itself on being the most contemporary electronics market around, Dubai puts itself forward as a leader in business IT devices. There is some serious consideration given to the look and style of the devices used as part of a mobile office. After all, more than 40% of those surveyed spend less than 35 hours in a fixed workspace.

In an age where we spend less time in an office and a region where connectivity is no longer an issue, there can often be more pressure to deliver results, and design and flexibility have become bywords for travelling light and working hard. (But with panache.)