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    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap

    While there may have been a time when IT organizations could dictate which devices and applications end users could use, employees are increasingly spending their own money to not only buy devices, but also contract to use software-as-a-service applications. Of course, sometimes the definition of their own money is fluid. They may not be using the IT budget, but in many instances they are using budget dollars allocated to the business unit they work for.

    A new study from International Data Corp., conducted on behalf of Unisys, finds that this creates a lot of potential risk in the form of corporate data on any number of unmanaged devices and applications that are beyond the reach of most data governance policies. Coming down hard on this practice is not an especially savvy political move for most IT leaders. And most of them don’t have the internal expertise to manage these devices.

    Will the consumerization of IT be the final nail in the internal IT support desk, or is there some middle ground to be had between end users rebelling against the status quo and IT organizations that are ultimately responsible for the corporate data?

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 1

    Click through for results from an IDC study, conducted on behalf of Unisys, regarding the consumerization of IT and subsequent security risks.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 2

    Smartphone adoption is particularly rampant.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 3

    Employees are paying for the privilege.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 4

    Social networking and video are the most business-centric applications.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 5

    Business enabler or time waster?

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 6

    Over one-third of respondents use devices for both.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 7

    The younger the worker, the more mobility there is.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 8

    And many of those workers are increasingly accessing business applications.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 9

    It’s the new world of standard-issue equipment.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 10

    Users are getting more mature about security.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 11

    Most usage today is still relatively rudimentary.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 12

    Some convergence between business and end users seen.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 13

    IT thinks it is a lot better at mobility than most users.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 14

    The business thinks it’s disallowing more activity than users realize.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 15

    Younger workers are changing the way we all work.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 16

    Everybody sees where this is all heading.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 17

    Words without actions are empty.

    Consumerism Opens Corporate Security Gap - slide 18

    Many times IT organizations don’t want to know.

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