Wearables Becoming Something Of A Workplace IT Puzzle

Wearable technology is expected to create a lot of different challenges in the workplace, a new poll has shown.

The survey called 2015 Wearable Technology Survey, was done by Ipswitch and has polled IT professionals from businesses and organisations in the United Kingdom. The poll shows that a lot of IT professionals run networks with various connected devices: 49 per cent of networks have a smartwatch connected to them, 43 per cent have fitness trackers, 17 per cent monitoring devices and 12 per cent recording and photography gear.

Having such a large and diverse group of wearables connecting can create all sorts of trouble for the network, with security breaches (71 per cent), more work to support more devices (48 per cent) and low bandwidth (32 per cent) among the top concerns for IT professionals.

However, when asked if they had IT policies in place to manage the impact of wearables, over two-thirds (69 per cent) did not and only one-fifth (21 per cent) did have such a policy. This compares to almost three quarters (73 per cent) who said they had no policy in place in last year’s survey.

“Wearable technology might be convenient for the user, but our survey shows that it’s the IT professionals who get inconvenienced by supporting more devices and worrying about security breaches,” said Alessandro Porro, Vice President of International at Ipswitch.

“Fortunately, IT pros can be better prepared to deal with Apple Watches and Fitbits when they have the proper tools to provide total visibility into network traffic and bandwidth utilisation. A clear picture of what is happening helps to ensure that wearable technology isn’t going to affect network or application performance.”

Of course, Ipswitch can ease the pain through Ipswitch WhatsConnected, which helps IT pros monitor and manage devices including wearable technology. You can find a 30-day free trial here.