TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TeamViewer®, one of the world’s most popular providers of remote control and online meetings software, today announced the findings of its IT Admin Behavioral Study. The survey, which was fielded among 300 IT administrators in the US during March 2014, was aimed at determining their experiences with some of the common behaviors of office workers and how this has affected both the IT admin, as well as the company’s bottom line. The survey found that 92% of IT admins admit to seeing troublesome habits among office workers using company computers. The most common thing they see is the browsing of social media websites (82%) followed by:
- Opening inappropriate email attachments – 57%
- Downloading games – 52%
- Plugging in unauthorized USB devices – 51%
- Plugging in unauthorized personal devices – 50%
- Illegal downloads (e.g. pirating movies, music or software) – 45%
- Looking for other jobs – 39%
And these bad habits have their share of repercussions. 90% of IT administrators say that they’ve witnessed problems to company equipment because of these actions including:
- Viruses – 77%
- Slow computers – 74%
- Crashed computers – 55%
- Mass popups – 48%
- Inability to open email – 33%
Some of the inefficiencies identified by the survey showed that 23% of IT workers are now putting in between 10 – 20 extra hours in a given week with 4% even saying that it has caused them to work more than 40 extra hours in a week. 41% of IT administrators even estimate that they walk between 1 – 9 miles in a given month travelling from desk-to-desk and floor-to-floor during their daily tasks.
Negative emotions are also felt among IT administrators due to the bad habits of office workers including feeling frustrated (70%), angry (60%) and discouraged (32%). 12% even said that these bad habits have them feeling like they want to quit their job.
While leisure activity on company equipment might be inevitable, 94% of IT admins said that there are things that can help mitigate these problems by making their jobs easier including:
- Better security software – 66%
- Using remote access software to fix problems – 47%
- Disk cleanup software – 44%
- Automatic backup solutions – 40%
- The ability to telecommute – 29%
“While most companies are okay with their employees using company equipment for activities such as browsing social media sites, the results of our study reveal that these actions can cause problems down the line,” said Kornelius Brunner, Head of Product Management at TeamViewer. “Businesses should be prepared to handle such situations especially with valuable company data on the line. At TeamViewer, we’re dedicated to the development and further improvement of great tools that help IT departments neutralize these incidents and keep the business running.”
About TeamViewer
Founded in 2005, TeamViewer is fully focused on the development and distribution of high-end solutions for online communication, collaboration and remote monitoring of IT systems. Available in over 30 languages and with more than 200 million users worldwide, TeamViewer is one of the world’s most popular providers of remote control and online meeting software. airbackup, a powerful cloud-based backup solution, and ITbrain, a valuable remote monitoring and IT asset tracking solution, complement TeamViewer’s product portfolio. For more information, visit: www.teamviewer.com
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