Gartner: 86 percent of businesses plan to deploy tablets

The age of bring your own device (BYOD) has arrived, and with it, so has the proliferation of personal smartphones and tablet computers in the workplace. Though smartphone adoption is more widespread, a study from research firm Gartner predicts more businesses will embrace tablets in the near future.

In a global survey of businesses with more than 500 employees, the study finds that 90 percent of businesses have already deployed mobile devices in some capacity. By the end of 2012, 86 percent of surveyed businesses say they plan to deploy tablets to at least parts of their workforce.

Many of these devices will be distributed by the companies themselves. However, BYOD is becoming a major part of enterprise mobility. According to the report, 32 percent of businesses say they provide technical support for personal smartphones, while 37 percent say they support personal tablets.

Gartner asserts that BYOD is an inevitability, as more employees are going to insist on using their personal devices for work whenever they can. Businesses are encouraged to embrace this development, though they must take the proper precautions by securing their networks and deploying the necessary protective measures to keep devices and corporate data safe.

An earlier study from Gartner notes that businesses must also adjust their application development practices for a mobile-centric workforce. As employees insists on using mobile devices for work, it will become necessary that app development teams create programs that are touch-friendly and can be accessed from virtually any device.