sistently “agreed” or “strongly agreed”
on such IT’s positive impact. More
than 70% of our study participants
from India and Mexico, and 82% of
our China respondents, showed strong
agreement—compared to much lower
percentages of participants from devel-
oped nations.

table 3. Perceiving consumer it as productivity enhancer.

Percentage of employees that agree or strongly agree with each statement
“if i were allowed
to choose my own
hardware and software
for work, i would be
more resourceful”
“if i were allowed
to choose my own
hardware and software
for work, i would
be able to do higher
quality of work”
“my work data
gets stored with
third party providers
on the internet”

Australia 38% 36% 11% Brazil 56% 63% 23% Canada 44% 41% 13% China 82% 79% 36% France 32% 37% 6% germany 23% 20% 4% india 72% 72% 28% italy 54% 56% 19% Japan 52% 46% 4% Mexico 74% 72% 23% scandinavia 31% 35% 8% singapore 65% 67% 14% southKorea 62% 54% 16% spain 48% 48% 15% United Kingdom 44% 40% 7% Unitedstates 41% 40% 12% sampleAverage 51% 50% 15% note: Bold typeface marks top three for each category

table 4. Seeing consumer it as a workforce-retention weapon.

Percentage of employees that agree or strongly agree with each statement “By allowing employees to use their desired applications and devices for work-related purposes, an organization could increase satisfaction among employees”

Australia 57% Brazil 71% Canada 54% China 79% France 57% germany 50% india 72% italy 63% Japan 33% Mexico 76% scandinavia 42% singapore 69% south Korea 56% spain 65% United Kingdom 50% United states 49% sample Average 59% note: Bold typeface marks top three for each category

“i would gladly pay for some of the applications and devices if only my organization would allow me to use them for work.”

18% 36% 26% 37% 14% 13% 51% 31% 18% 46% 10% 36% 31% 28% 15% 20% 27%

For emerging and mature economies, productivity and technology seem to perpetuate one another. But for emerging markets specifically, this effect seems remarkably pronounced. As those markets ramp up their economies, consumer technologies are becoming increasingly available to a broad spectrum of people. This, in turn, could fuel economic growth even further. The World Bank has found that with the addition of one mobile phone per 10 people, the per-capita GDP of a typical emerging nation will increase by approximately 0.8%. 6

In this context, the availability of cloud-based data and applications accelerates opportunities for value creation, making workers more productive irrespective of time and location with lower investment upfront. Cloud computing provides tools in a more accessible, cheaper, and easier-to-use-manner than technologies traditionally used by corporate IT. Indeed, compared to their Western equivalents, employees in emerging economies use the cloud almost twice as often in the workplace (see Table 3). This effect may stem from the lack of existing enterprise systems, the lack of IT policies, or both.

Capturing and keeping top talent. Lastly, our study revealed differences in attitudes regarding the power of consumer IT to attract and retain talent. As companies strive to compete by recruiting the best employees and keeping them on board, they are finding that offering these workers access to leading-edge technology can help. In particular, encouraging the use of consumer technologies sends a clear message that employees will have the most current tools available as well as maximum flexibility and freedom in carrying out their work. Yet again, this effect is remarkably more pronounced for consumer technologies in emerging-market economies than in mature ones.

For example, our survey respondents from emerging nations showed consistently higher levels of job satisfaction if allowed to use consumer technologies for work purposes (see Table 4). While the impact is noticeable around the globe (sample average is 59%), employees in emerging markets feel most influenced by the