Australian employees prefer desktop PC over mobile devices for work

13 December 2016

Results of a survey released by Gartner show that desktop PCs are still the most popular work device; while adoption of corporate mobility in Australia is "immature".

working on PC.jpg

Sitting at the cafe working, on the train working, at the beach working... it sounds like it could be convenient, even productive - but is it?

Employees, it seems, prefer working in the office on a desktop PC.

The survey findings are based on the 2016 Gartner Personal Technologies Study, which was conducted from June to August 2016 among 9,592 respondents in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia.

PCs are more popular than laptops

Although 80 percent of workers surveyed received one or more corporate-issued devices, desktops are still the most popular corporate device, says Gartner.

Thirty-six percent of workers surveyed received corporate-owned laptops, including convertible laptops.

Adoption of convertible laptops as a corporate-issued device is still very low, but has been gradually increasing. Gartner analysts expect that more employees will receive convertible laptops in the next three years, driven by the Windows 10 refresh that can enhance the user experience with touch-based input.

Adding desktops and laptops (including convertible laptops) together, 75 percent of workers will receive at least one corporate-issued PC-type device in mature countries.

Most businesses not providing corporate smartphones

In contrast to the high numbers of corporate-issued PCs in the workplace, relatively few workers receive mobile devices.

The majority of smartphones used in the Australian workplace are personally owned devices — only 23 percent of employees surveyed were provided with a corporate-issued smartphone.

"The low adoption of corporate-issued mobile devices underlines the fact that large numbers of personally owned mobile devices are used in the workplace," said Mikako Kitagawa, principal research analyst at Gartner.

"In fact, more than half of employees who used smartphones at work rely solely on their personally owned smartphones."

Tablets used by 21% of employees surveyed

The usage rate of personally owned tablets lags behind that of personally owned smartphones. Only 21 percent of employees use tablets — regardless of whether they are corporate issued or personally owned.

"In the era of mobility, it comes as something of a surprise that corporate usage of smartphones and tablets is not as high as PCs, even when the use of personally owned devices is taken into account," said Ms. Kitagawa.

"While it's true that the cost of providing mobile devices can quickly escalate, proper usage of mobile devices can increase productivity, which can easily justify the extra costs."