Majority of businesses in the region restrict employee access to social media platforms, according to a new survey of IT professionals conducted by Gulf Business Machines (GBM), the region’s leading IT solutions provider.

The survey, which coincides with the launch of GBM’s Intelligent Network Solutions (INS) division, found that an overwhelming majority of the over 900 respondents who participated, were subject to social media access restrictions in the workplace, ranging from partial to blanket.

While 32 per cent of the respondents reported unrestricted access to social media, just over a third (35 per cent) of those polled claimed that their organisations’ IT policies completely prohibited access. An additional 33 per cent said that they experienced “partial” restrictions.

“Although these findings do not come as a surprise, it is a clear indication of how seriously enterprises take the potential impact of social media on productivity,” said Hani Nofal, director of intelligent network solutions (INS) at GBM.

“The challenge that businesses face is in finding a middle ground which allows them to tap into the power of social media, while ensuring that it does not negatively impact productivity.”

“One option that is being considered is the adoption of social media-based collaborative tools that have specifically been developed for an enterprise environment. At INS, we believe that these tools will allow businesses to truly ride the social media wave without compromising on operational efficiencies,” Nofal added.

The survey also found that bring your own device (BYOD) policies are widely being implemented across the region; 62 per cent of the IT professionals polled maintained that their employers allowed them to connect their own devices to company networks.

The study also revealed that while one-in-ten IT professionals owns five or more personal devices - such as smartphones and tablets – a third of those polled owned up to three devices. However, only 6.2 per cent admitted to owning one device.

GBM INS, previously known as integrated networking & site services (INSS), provides customers and partners with a portfolio of solutions that captures all the values of fully human-optimised IT infrastructure.

Designed especially for the market’s current needs and business requirements, INS offers intelligent, creative solutions that adapt to the customers’ requirements to provide them with the benefits of four key areas which include secure mobility, video collaboration, social media and cloud computing.

GBM INS is one of the few networking solutions providers that address the need to shift the networking solutions space from traditional Systems Integration to human-to-system integration. – TradeArabia News Service