Gartner Says Companies That Don’t Implement Stringent Remote Worker Policies Will See Remote Worker Costs Increase by Five to Ten Times

Gartner Analysts Examine Remote Access and Mobile Strategies During Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, October 8-13, in Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla., October 11, 2006 — Through 2010, companies that do not implement new, more-stringent remote worker policies and network access controls, along with management tools, will see remote worker costs increase by five to 10 times and the number of security breaches increase exponentially, according to Gartner, Inc.

Gartner analysts discussed the best way enterprises can enable remote workers, ensure productivity and control costs at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo, which is taking place here through October 13.

“The number one problem with a typical remote access strategy is that most companies think that technology alone will solve all their problems,” said Eric Paulak, managing vice president at Gartner. “Although this could be the case if enterprises gave their remote workers fully secured access devices and locked them down. The problem is that completely locking down remote devices could hamper the improved productivity that businesses want to gain. As a result, effective policies must also be implemented with the right tools.”

Gartner predicts that the known costs of centrally supporting remote access services will double by 2008 and the unknown costs without centralized management will triple. More than 90 percent of all centrally controlled remote access service costs are for analog access minutes. Analog access represents less than 20 percent of primary use, and that number is decreasing dramatically. More than two-thirds of remote access costs are buried in the company.

“The problem lies in the fact that different remote access technologies have been managed by different groups in the company, and new technologies are cropping up that no one is managing,” said Mr. Paulak. “Many costs get buried in the company, and the hidden costs are growing rapidly while the centrally managed costs are declining. These costs could be controlled if they were part of a centrally managed remote access service.”

“Many networking managers don’t want that to happen, however, because it takes a hidden cost that the business units have to pay and turns it into a known cost that the networking or IT department has to pay,” said Mr. Paulak. “Yet, if these costs were centrally managed, the company would be able to control its costs much better. IT/networking/remote access managers should push their companies toward more-aggregated services to control rising costs. This will require buy-in from the Chief Financial Officer because it may increase IT costs, but it should lower total corporate costs by up to 40 percent.”

Gartner said that many solutions are emerging in the market that provide a full range of options for mobile and remote workers. The trend is toward heavier use of external services, especially for basic connectivity, VPNs and security services. Gartner recommends that companies first focus their attention on individual user classes that have the highest usage. These users are likely to be first adopters of new technology who will then propagate into other user types.

About Gartner Symposium/ITxpo
Gartner Symposium/ITxpo is the IT industry’s largest and most strategic conference, providing business leaders with a look at the future of IT. For more than 14,000 IT professionals from the world’s leading enterprises, Gartner’s annual Symposium/ITxpo events are key components of their annual planning efforts. Attendees rely on Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to gain insight into how their organizations can use technology to address business challenges and improve operational efficiency.

In Orlando, an integral part of the Gartner Symposium is the ITxpo showfloor, where more than 150 technology companies are showcasing the latest technology solutions. There are nine ITxpo marketplaces, including business applications and BPM, business intelligence and data warehousing, outsourcing and IT services and security. ITxpo marketplaces are focused areas designed to aggregate solution providers into a specific market and link conference topics to market solutions. Attendees can attend technology company presentations and schedule face to face meetings with exhibitors of their choice. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/symposium/us.

About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. Gartner serves 10,000 organizations, including chief information officers and other senior IT executives in corporations and government agencies, as well as technology companies and the investment community. The Company consists of Gartner Research, Gartner Executive Programs, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 3,700 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 75 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.gartner.com.

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Christy Pettey

Gartner, Inc.

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