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Research shows over half of UK businesses are at the mercy of wireless networks

New research released by Damovo UK & Ireland has revealed that more than half (55 per cent) of IT directors feel that their businesses are ever more at the mercy of their wireless network.

As enterprise mobility has grown, many organisations have struggled to upgrade their wireless networks at the same pace as the proliferation of mobile devices, such as laptops, tablets and smartphones. In fact, three quarters of IT directors said that they expect their wireless networks to come under even more strain as bring your own device (BYOD) becomes more commonplace.

'The wireless networks that most businesses have in place were not designed to support the sheer number of devices that are now connecting to them,' said Russell Siverland-Bishop, principal consultant, Damovo UK & Ireland. 'With employees using more and more bandwidth hungry services such as mobile video, the demand for wireless capacity has rocketed. As mobility continues to play a fundamental role in enabling businesses to operate efficiently, it’s no surprise to see that many IT directors are growing increasingly concerned over the ability of their wireless networks to support the demands upon them.'

With more people and devices now accessing corporate networks, security remains the number one ongoing concern over wireless networks, as indicated by more than half (60 per cent) of IT directors taking part in the research. This is followed by concerns over coverage and performance (15 per cent), and having sufficient bandwidth to support new devices and applications (13 per cent).

However, despite these concerns, nearly two-thirds of IT directors (65 per cent) confessed that they take an ad-hoc approach to extending or upgrading their wireless networks; adding capacity as and when required, rather than adopting a long term strategic approach to network planning. As a result, securing wireless networks, improving performance and troubleshooting problems can become an overly time consuming activity.