According to research of 500 UK business managers, carried out by NOP on behalf of the BSA, 55% of businesses agree that remote working is making it increasingly tricky to see and manage what employees are uploading onto laptops and mobile devices, but 67% confess to not being concerned.
When questioned further about the blasé management of flexible working, 39% of bosses said mobile working is lessening their control over company software; and 48% believe that remote working makes security patching more of a problem.
The survey suggests that the IT management policies and processes that companies enforce within the office environment are not enforced for staff working remotely or on the move.
Siobhan Carroll, Regional Manager of the Business Software Alliance, said:
"Although companies are embracing remote working they are not perhaps putting the controls in place that would best discourage licence abuse. Businesses need to have a preventative strategy and full controls in place before issues arise over illegal software use. Hefty fines can have a very detrimental effect on a company's bottom line.
