'Agoraphobia' rife in IT departments

One company evangelising the benefits of flexible working has revealed the extent of the mountain it and its peers still have to climb in convincing businesses to liberate their staff from a 'these four walls' mentality.

According to research unveiled at the Citrix iForum event in Edinburgh, 90 per cent of senior IT execs in UK large businesses regard flexible working as a security risk.

Furthermore 66 per cent of respondents believe the only way to solve this dilemma is to either compromise their security - and lower expectations of an acceptable level of risk - or rein in the efficiency of mobile working. Of those the majority (51 per cent) believe limiting the remit of mobile strategies is the only way to go, while 15 per cent said they would trade off security against greater mobility.

Arthur Morris, MD of Appswing, which enables documents to be viewed and edited on any mobile device, said security is absolutely paramount and end-user concerns are still delaying adoption.

"Security is the major factor which is holding back mobile computing," said Morris. "There is no doubt about that."

A lot of companies using the Appswing service, including Cambridgeshire ambulance crews, have field operatives who need to be able to access data on their network and send data back but that data must also be secure at all times as it is often very sensitive.

David Titcombe, IT manager for Swindon Borough Council social services, told silicon.com he addressed the issue of flexible working to increase staff morale but also actually to increase security.

He believes if companies don't tackle flexible working effectively then staff will take matters into their own hands. Titcombe said the fears relating to social workers taking sensitive data - such as information held on children at risk - home on USB memory sticks or even floppy disks causes him far more concern than effective and secure flexible working technologies.

Other findings from the Citrix survey revealed that only 23 per cent of respondents believe the benefits of flexible working outweigh the risks. Almost half (44 per cent) said they believe the risks are "minor" and 13 per cent believe there is no risk whatsoever.