Personal/Business Environments Are Blurring

“The boundary between work and personal connectivity for the hyperconnected is almost nonexistent. Two-thirds use text or instant messaging for both work and personal use. More than a third use social networking for both. “

This comes from a white paper resulting from a Nortel-funded IDC information worker survey.

This trend is hard to fight (and would be counter-productive) as in many environments, information workers are encouraged to take their work home, and to respond to business-related queries off-hours.

The implications are clear. Personal use and IT support policies will need to be adjusted to reflect this new reality. Security will likewise need to reassessed both in terms of networking and business/customer data retention.

What can you do? Well, for example, technology exists today that allows your employees to publish only their work numbers and still be accessible on their cells; cell numbers can be reserved for personal use.