Gartner: More employees bringing PCs to work

As shipments of laptops surpass that of desktop computers, a new trend is starting to take shape. Employees are increasingly bringing their laptops into the office, and using them as their primary productivity machines. This was the conclusion based on a Gartner study of 528 IT managers in mid- to large-sized (500-plus employees) corporations in the United States, Germany and United Kingdom.

Unsurprisingly, acceptance of such practices appears to vary by verticals, though the specific country seems to play a part in the adoption rate too. Companies in the manufacturing, wholesale and government verticals are less likely to welcome the idea, while service, insurance and telecommunications companies tend to be more open.

What about by region? According to eWeek, "In Germany, 60 percent of companies in the survey said they currently allow the use of employee-owned PCs, though only 30 percent of U.S. and U.K. companies said the same." What's more, Gartner predicts that the trend will accelerate with employee-owned devices in U.S. companies to increase by another 60 percent over the next 12 to 18 months.

With more employee laptops on the corporate network, this obviously poses a challenge in terms when it comes to security and support.  Yet this can also be an opportunity for cost containment if corporations are nimble and start exploring the use of employee-purchase schemes to share the cost of a new workstation.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at eWeek

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