Younger Workers Less Convinced Of Need For Internal IT Help

Workers are losing faith in their IT departments to get the job done with almost half of all full-time staff in small and medium sized businesses thinking they are better suited to solving IT-related problems.

The survey by Intrinsic suggests new employees are driving the change with 51% of 18-24 year olds trusting their device knowledge over and above those in IT.

The situation is the polar opposite among 45-54 year olds, with 31% confident enough to fix problems without the need for an IT professional’s help.

“The employee and the IT department should have a mutually beneficial relationship,” said Steve Browell, CTO of Intrinsic. “Compromise and collaboration is needed between both individual attitudes and corporate culture. This will enable all parties to become more culturally and operationally agile when responding to the everyday opportunities IT can provide.

"There are solutions to most known problems in IT, yet there needs to be a higher incentive to deploy them and create better environments to suit all.”

IT Departments Need To Adapt

Among employees as a whole, 25 per cent ignore the IT department when attempting to choose new software and 55 per cent of employees would rather use their own devices than rely on company-issued hardware. Also, another 32% only want to use their own devices for work due to what they see as inferior devices on offer at work.

“Clearly employees are well-versed in today’s technology, some even feeling comfortable enough to take IT into their own hands at work,” Browell added. “Businesses need to adapt to make sure the IT department is offering the right kind of advice and guidance, especially when responsibility for security and privacy ultimately sits with them.”

Image Credit: Flickr (bfolberth)

Author: Jamie Hinks