Netbooks Find Niche in Enterprises, Study Shows

Netbooks, which are widely viewed as consumer devices, are being actively deployed in many enterprises; 21 percent of organizations currently have netbooks deployed and 50 percent intend to deploy them in the future, according to new research from the Technology Practice of Chadwick Martin Bailey (CMB).

The study, “Netbooks in the Enterprise,” surveyed 158 IT decision makers from U.S.-based companies of all sizes. Within these organizations, netbooks typically are being deployed to a handful of select employees who have jobs that require them to be mobile and often out of the office, noted CMB researchers Chris Neal, technology practice leader, and Jennifer Simpson, project manager, in a summary of the findings.

Despite the expected growth of enterprise-oriented Internet applications, IT pros indicated that access to these applications and netbook devices are only likely to be demanded by employees who travel (62 percent), and select groups within the organization (39 percent), rather than across the enterprise (11 percent).

Of the IT professionals surveyed who currently are deploying netbooks in their organizations, 48 percent indicated only 5 percent or less of the entire employee base is using them. Seventy-one percent indicated that lower cost was one of the essential advantages of the device, while 68 percent said size and portability were extremely important to their decision.

Despite the interest in netbooks in the enterprise, nearly one-third (29 percent) of organizations surveyed do not plan to deploy netbooks in the future. A perceived lack of necessary processing power for locally run applications and the small form factor are the biggest barriers to netbook adoption among businesses, the researchers noted. “Processing power looms large in IT decision makers’ consideration of netbooks because many productivity applications are not yet being used through Web services,” they wrote.

Among businesses currently not deploying netbooks, a perceived lack of necessary processing power for local applications was the most common reason (20 percent of unaided mentions). Further, 6 percent of IT professionals indicated that the small form factor and the newness of the devices were issues.