With the IT support industry polarised over allowing personal devices to be used in the workplace, research from Kaseya has found that one-third of European businesses have taken a different approach: ignore the issue.

29 per cent of the businesses surveyed have no usage policies for employee purchased technologies, despite an increasing number of staff relying on privately owned devices, with over three-quarters of UK respondents claiming that mobile access is critical or important to their roles.

The chief benefit of BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices) cited by respondents, which is delivering staff mobile access without the financial burden of investing in the latest technology, is being diluted by ongoing security concerns. 39 per cent said they fear that BYOD will increase data loss and almost a quarter worry about theft of contacts.

“This research highlights the need for IT departments across Europe to ensure they are able to securely and easily allow access to their network from mobile devices – whether these are from laptop computers, smartphone devices or the increasing number of tables on the market. The challenge for IT departments is to allow full device management across the plethora of products now available and being introduced to the company by employees,” says Kaseya marketing director Koby Amedume.