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