More IT departments will be required to support the consumer-friendly iPad tablet in 2012. One of the reasons:
It’s the preferred device of their company’s CEO.
That’s the word from a recent report by tech research firm Forrester, which predicts that businesses will spend $19 billion on Apple products this year. That includes $10 billion on iPads and $9 billion on Mac computers. Those numbers are a significant increase from the $12 billion spent last year (split evenly between iPads and Macs).
Of course, Windows machines will still take up a bulk of IT spending this year, accounting for an estimated $69 billion. But if that figure is correct, it’ll be a 3% drop from the prior year. And Forrester expects Apple to make further inroads in the enterprise, predicting iPad spending to rise to $16 billion in 2013, and spending on Apple computers to reach $12 billion by that time.
According to Forrester, the increase in IT spending on Apple products is a result of the growing trend of employees bringing their own devices into work. Many users already own iPads and are using them for work anyway. Therefore, Forrester says, many IT departments have started buying those products so users can at least be working on company-owned and IT-managed devices.
Another major factor in the increased support for Apple products, according to Forrester: Company CEOs have been buying them and requiring IT to support them. That’s led to a trickle-down effect where users throughout the company are doing the same.
Does your department support iPads and other products? Any advice to share? Let us know in the comments section below.