Consumers increasingly bringing tablets into work

The line between consumer and enterprise technology is beginning to blur, as more employees are bringing their personal tablets into the office for work purposes.

Recent research conducted by IDC is the latest evidence of this trend. In a survey of chief information officers, IDC found that many IT departments are seeing a massive influx of challenges as the result of personally owned tablet computers in the workplace. Because these consumer-targeted devices are becoming equally as powerful as traditional enterprise computers, many are using them to conduct business, IDC’s researchers found.

"Employees now carry devices in their private lives that are more sophisticated and user-friendly than those they are given by their employers," said Nicholas McQuire, IDC’s research director in charge of Enterprise Mobility in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. "Many IT departments, consigned to this reality, are looking at ways to allow employees to have a greater say around the technologies they use in the workplace, including using their own personal mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, via internal bring your own device programs.”

This shift may grow even further in the coming years, as consumers are becoming more reliant on their tablets while at home. Another study conducted by Nielsen found U..S. consumers are more likely to use their tablets while lying in bed and for watching TV than their smartphones.