"This trend is set to continue, and for IT departments, it is bad news," said Brian Gammage, vice president and analyst at Gartner. "Budgets are under pressure and there are growing demands to contain user liberty. Security concerns are very real and demand tighter control of the company security perimeter, which for PCs translates to demanding tighter management of PC configurations.
"Each device accessing the system presents a target 'footprint', to which applications are delivered, and these footprints must be managed and secured," Gammage said. "Failure to do so risks business disruption and lost productivity."
Gartner recommends that IT departments set clear boundaries around their client computing footprints on devices in order to meet business objectives and work to tight budgets. Probably the most fundamental technology change, and the key to defining new rules on dealing with device footprints, will be virtualization.
For many organizations, the cost and complexity of client computing has become inhibitive. Devices must be maintained and supported, which involves annual overhead that, for PCs, can be as much as five times the initial cost of the device.
"Hardware continues to evolve, so PC standards usually change at least once per year, and there's an increasing range of other devices to consider as well," said Gammage. "Managing the way processes and applications are used from these devices is key to ensuring productivity and maintaining a strong security perimeter."
