A complete handover of enterprise IT provisioning to employees would be a big mistake, thinks Bryan Jones, Dell's marketing director for public and large enterprise in EMEA. Speaking to V3.co.uk, Jones observed that companies need to strike a balance between providing more choice while maintaining cost perspective with regards to technical support.

Jones put it this way: "Do you really want a company lawyer spending time on the helpline to their laptop vendor because their hard drive failed? That's probably one of the most expensive ways that you could use that employee's time." He also pointed out that many popular consumer gadgets simply do not incorporate the security features that can be found in a typical corporate laptop.

Jones does not think that PCs and laptops will be displaced by tablets either, despite the post-PC talk from the Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad camp. "We're seeing the tablet as a fad right now," says Jones, who observed that while there is much talk about corporate users wanting a tablet form factor, it's as an additional device, "not their only device."

For more:
- see Daniel Robinson's article at V3.co.uk

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