25th October 2012, London - Today, Easynet, the network, hosting and cloud integration business, released the results of its ‘Applications in the Cloud’ pan-European study, which revealed that rather than Gen Y employees bringing the majority of applications into the workplace, it is senior management and the C suite that are responsible.
The introduction of unmanaged applications in the workplace, and the associated security risks, brings with it major headaches for the CIO, who must somehow find a way to control all the potential points of entry and data leakage across the corporate network.
Applications have traditionally been perceived by the Board and senior managers as being brought into the workplace by Gen Y, the ‘always on’ generation’ which is also called the Connected Generation, or Gen C. This perception has been exacerbated by the surge in BYOD trends affecting both enterprises and SMBs alike. However, the Easynet study found that the C suite, senior management and management are the main groups responsible for bringing cloud-based tools and applications into the business, and consequently the security risks associated with them.
Surprisingly, the findings highlighted that it is not only work-related tools that senior management are bringing in, but also recreational applications. Not only are senior executives and management responsible for the increase in the phenomenon that is BYOD, but they are also responsible for the rise of ‘BYOA’ (Bring Your Own Application) once the device is on the network.
The highlights of the pan-European research include:
32% advised that video apps are brought into the workplace by C suite executives
Graduates surprisingly only account for slightly less (28%) than C suite executives (41%) for the introduction of VoIP tools
Graduates (35%) are marginally behind C suite executives (47%) in the introduction of collaboration tools in the workplace
42% of UK respondents said management are responsible for introduction of recreational applications
27% of respondents in France said graduates are bringing in SaaS tools into the workplace
The introduction of recreational applications onto the network is the only category led by graduates (32%) and interns (29%) but C suite executives (27%) are only marginally behind
Justin Fielder, CTO at Easynet commented: “These results surprised us: they clearly demonstrate that organisations need to understand in far more detail who is bringing these unapproved applications into the workplace. Gen Y tend to get the blame, but the focus should no longer only be on those coming in at an early career level. It should encompass everyone in the organisation, including those at board level or who have been employed within the company for years.
The findings show that whilst Gen Y continues to be blamed for putting extra strain on networks as they expect to work in a more highly unified and connected way, it is actually happening from the top down. IT and Network Managers can’t police access to all the applications that are available on the multitude of devices crossing over the network, so a different approach is required.
The onus is now on organisations to educate employees at every level on the risks that are associated with bringing applications of all types into the workplace. There is no longer a standard way to secure a network that has multiple applications and numerous entry points. We must go back to the basics and the priority must be on education.”
The growing number of entry points across the network means control is becoming increasingly difficult. The research highlights the importance to educate staff on the risks of bringing applications into the workplace and the associated risks.
About the research
The global study of 182 CIO and IT Directors from the UK, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain and Italy explored the key priorities for businesses in terms of apps and business processes and attitudes towards the cloud.
