December 20, 2005

Will Employees Buy Their Own Notebooks in 2006?

Traditionally, companies have purchased notebook computers FOR their employees. But it appears there's going to be a trend, according to research firm Gartner, that firms will adopt a "notebook allowance" similar to the car allowance offered by some companies today when employees use their own vehicles for business purposes.

I'm not sure if this is such a good idea. On one hand, notebooks are "personal" items. You use them for office work, but you also take them home and maybe let your child play a game or two on it. On the other hand, notebooks should be considered corporate property for intellectual property reasons and institutional cohesion.

If you plan on doing this, could you let me know?

The Gartner press release reads "Transferring notebook ownership to employees does not eliminate the cost of PCs, but shift it to employee benefits and indirect user operational costs," said Leslie Fiering, research vice president at Gartner. "The payback is removing PC assets from the company books and freeing IT to focus on critical business initiatives."

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