Workers shifting away from desktops in search for flexibility

Pressure on the humble desktop continues with LaptopsDirect.co.uk charting its decline in the workplace.
The PC market exited 2018 bruised by CPU shortages and growing political uncertainty and the forecasts for the year ahead have been fairly muted from the large analyst houses.
Earlier this week Gartner revealed that the second half of last year had seen market fortunes downturn but pointed out that external factors were largely to blame and things could start to ease off for the better.
“Just when demand in the PC market started seeing positive results, a shortage of CPUs (central processing units) created supply chain issues. After two quarters of growth in 2Q18 and 3Q18, PC shipments declined in the fourth quarter,” said Mikako Kitagawa, senior principal analyst at Gartner.
The leading PC vendors - Lenovo, HP and Dell - continue to fight it out for market share but the number of users opting to have a desktop in the office has dipped under half of the UK workforce.
Research from LaptopsDirect.co.uk has found that only 42% of UK workers use a desktop and 26% of those expect to move to a laptop over the next 12 months.
The etailer found that 38% of workers are already using a laptop and 22% have chosen to use a tablet as their weapon of choice in the workplace.
In terms of vertical markets the desktop has fallen out of favour most in retail, then in order of decline hospitality and leisure, marketing and creative, construction and professional services.
"More and more we’re hearing from our business customers that not only do clients expect workers to be able to work on the go, but increasingly the generation Z and millennial aged workforces climbing today’s career ladder expect a degree of flex on working hours and patterns. Which requires devices that enable them to work remotely or on the move," said Mark Kelly, marketing manager at LaptopsDirect.co.uk.
Laptops and tablets have gained in popularity because of the flexibility and most vendors have moved to offer ultrathin amd 2-in-1 products to meet that demand.
“Combined with the findings that workers feel more productive in the office, and more motivated to do their best work, when upgraded to a laptop or tech gadget, it really is a no-brainer to picture what offices today should comprise of. It feels like the desktop PCs has had its day. They don’t lend well to the open-plan, flexible working offices of today, or the need for businesses to respond to today’s fast pace of working and ‘always on’ approach to business," added Kelly.
There will be some in the PC industry arguing against that conclusion, pointing to the run up to the expiration of support around Windows 7 as a reason why investment will continue across 2019.
Almost half of UK and US organisations surveyed by market research firm Censuswide are still using Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.
The survey of 160 UK and 160 US organisations, carried out on behalf of software-defined delivery specialist Kollective, looked at the potential costs and security threats of staying on Windows 7 beyond Microsoft’s support deadline of 14 January 2020. The firm found that 17% of IT departments were unaware of the end of life deadline giving the channel plenty of customers to pitch an upgrade and migration message to.
Source: computerweekly
Industry: unified communication news

Latest Jobs
-
- Sailpoint IIQ Consultant
- London
- Up to £75,000
-
SailPoint IIQ consultant- London We are looking for a strong SailPoint IIQ consultant to work for this global enterprise, in this position you will be the lead consultant in regard to the IAM and PAM tools Duties include Responsible for designing, developing, testing, implementing, and integrating IAM (SailPoint) systems and solutions. Assessing requirements for Identity and Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs. Provide support for production IAM infrastructure systems and processes. Ensures the maintenance, patching, operating, and monitoring of IAM systems. Ensures senior management and staff are informed of any changes and updates in a timely manner. Experience with Maintaining and supporting SailPoint IIQ Assessing requirements for Privilege Access Management solutions to meet stakeholders needs We are looking for someone with the following experience SailPoint IIQ experience Expertise working with SailPoint Identity IQ platform - Access Lifecycle Management, Certifications, Role Management Expertise in onboarding applications with various connectors like Active Directory, JDBC, SCIM 2.0, Azure Active Directory Expertise in developing APIs (SCIM, REST) leveraging Java based developmentExperience of Privileged Access Management concepts and use cases Unfortunatly we are unable to provide sponsorship for this opportunity, therefore applications will need to be able to work in the UK
-
- SailPoint Consultant- Netherland-
- Netherlands
- upto €700 per day
-
We are looking for a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ Consultant to work on a major deployment project. The ideal candidate will have experience with all aspects of SailPoint IIQ, including development, configuration, and administration. They will also be able to work independently and as part of a team to deliver high-quality results. · Responsibilities · Develop and configure Sailpoint IIQ solutions · Integrate SailPoint IIQ with other systems · Support SailPoint IIQ deployments · Provide technical support to users If you are a highly skilled SailPoint IIQ consultant who is looking for their next project, we encourage you to apply. look forward to hearing from you!
-
- Lead CyberArk deployment Consultant
- London
- Upto £80,000 plus benefits
-
CyberArk Consultant is needed to be responsible for leading the deployment of CyberArk solutions for this expanding IT services business, You will work with customer both pre and post sales, getting involved in CyberArk Solution Design, helping to create CyberArk Strategic Roadmaps, on-boarding accounts, product and process integration into the CyberArk Solution and Proviso of Installation and technical Documentation. We are looking for this individual to have experience in: Installation of CyberArk PAS for V11.X and V12.X (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Upgrade of CyberArk from V9 and V10 (Vault, DR Vault, Central Policy Manager and Password Vault Web Access) Installation and Upgrade of Privilege Session Manager and Privilege Session Manager Proxy As some of your client will be government site, all individual will need to be put through SC clearance, therefore you must be eligible to receive this and happy to be put through(With a British Citizen or to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years) We are unable to provide work visa sponsorship for this opportunity
-
- Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, London
- London
- £400 per day outside IR35
-
Senior Business Analyst - Outside IR35 Contract, SC Clearance Required, Based in London Project- to engage with colleagues and stakeholders to investigate and model business functions, processes, information flows and data structures, using a range of business analysis techniques. • You will translate the solution to the business problem into detailed requirements by creating user stories and well-defined acceptance criteria. • Elicit end-to-end business requirements for a live cross-government service • Working across the Government departments to bring together varied business and operational outcomes to form a holistic overall set of service requirements Current SC clearance is required. As is the ability to travel to London.