Survey: Desktop clutter annoys IT managers

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You know what they say about a cluttered desk reflecting a cluttered mind? Well, a survey released today reveals clutter as one of IT managers’ main bugbears.

The survey, which set out to understand the issues faced in terms of managing technology end-user environments, revealed clutter is one of the top two issues annoying IT managers responsible for end user support in the UK.

It also found UK IT managers were likely to see worker areas as cluttered, while they were evenly spilt on whether such clutter affected productivity.

Out of nearly 600 responses from the UK, US, Germany and France, 110 UK IT managers took part in the survey conducted by International Communications Research (ICR) on behalf of IT Operations management vendor, Avocent.

According to all the respondents, in what was virtually a two-to-one ratio, cluttered desktop wiring was also seen as a major challenge to providing effective desktop support.

At the same time, desktop wiring tangles were seen to cause slow implementation of upgrades and repairs at user workstations. And, on average, 12 per cent of helpdesk calls were related to cabling or connectivity issues.

The IT managers were evenly divided as to whether the growth in USB-based devices had led to an increase in IT support time, while only half of companies surveyed had a policy addressing the management of non-company issued devices.

Despite clutter being seen as negative, 90 per cent of the UK respondents said their company emphasised technology to improve productivity and 87 per cent said wireless keyboard and mouse products are top solutions to address clutter issues.

But only 17 per cent of all the IT managers questioned said they were currently deploying products to reduce desktop clutter, which ranged from wireless keyboards and mice to Keyboard, Video or Visual Display Unit, Mouse (KVM) switches.

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