Mobile device adoption in workplace not yet mature: Gartner

Desktop PC continues to be most popular corporate device among businesses, a reflection that mobile device adoption in the workplace is not yet mature, according to Gartner.

"Although 80 per cent of workers surveyed received one or more corporate-issued devices, desktops are still the most popular corporate device among businesses, with more than half of workers receiving corporate-issued desktop PCs," the survey said.

The findings are based on the '2016 Gartner Personal Technologies Study' conducted from June-August in the US, the UK and Australia.

"Thirty-six per cent workers received laptops, including convertible laptops. Adoption of convertible laptops as a corporate-issued device is still very low, but has been gradually increasing. Gartner analysts expect that more employees will receive convertible laptops in the next three years, driven by the Windows 10 refresh that can enhance the user experience with touch-based input," Gartner said.

Adding desktops and laptops (including convertible laptops) together, 75 per cent of workers will receive at least one PC-type device in mature countries, it added.

In contrast to the high numbers of corporate-issued PCs in the workplace, relatively few workers receive mobile devices, it said adding that majority of smartphones used in the workplace are personally-owned devices. Only 23 per cent of employees surveyed were given corporate-issued smartphones.

"The low adoption of corporate-issued mobile devices underlines the fact that large numbers of personally-owned mobile devices are used in the workplace," Mikako Kitagawa, principal research analyst at Gartner said.

In fact, more than half of employees who used smartphones at work rely solely on their personally owned smartphones, Kitagawa added.

The usage rate of personally-owned tablets lags behind that of personally-owned smartphones. Only 21 per cent of employees use tablets regardless of whether they are corporate-issued or personally-owned, Gartner said.