Employees worldwide have begun to go rogue by using unauthorized software and applications on their work devices despite being aware of the potential business risks involved according to new research from Snow Software.
The company's new study surveyed 3,000 professionals in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific to reveal stark contrasts between the mindset of today's workers and the priorities of IT leaders.
This rift was most notable in younger employees and Snow's survey revealed that millennials are almost as twice as likely to go behind IT's back when compared to older workers. In fact, 81 percent of those surveyed admitted to accessing something on their work device without permission compared to just 51 percent of baby boomers who have done the same.
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President and CEO at Snow Software, Vishal Rao provided further insight on the survey's findings, saying:
“There is a tectonic shift happening in the enterprise, driven by a rapid move to the cloud and nearly unlimited access to technology. Part of what we see in this data is a philosophical evolution in what the future of work looks like. The CIO and their teams are now strategic business partners with the power to fundamentally change their organizations. That new role requires empowering a new generation of employees and enabling the business to be as effective as possible while also balancing financial, regulatory and compliance risks.”
Going against the IT department
Snow's research also revealed that many workers are breaking the rules in an effort to get their jobs done with 41 percent of global employees reporting that they use professional software or applications on their work device without IT's permission.
However, almost half (46 percent) of participants access personal documents without permission and even more use their devices to access popular personal content such as apps, music, videos and photos.
When questioned about the impact of needing permission from the IT department just to do their job, 40 percent of workers reported feeling watched, 32 percent said it slowed them down and impacted deadlines, 27 percent said it was frustrating and 26 percent felt it negatively impacted productivity.
As more millennials enter the work force, expect this issue to increase but businesses can take action proactively by implementing acceptable BYOD policies and educating their employees on why certain software and applications are not permitted in the workplace.
- Think your employees are going beyond IT's back? Check out the best employee monitoring software
