Forrester: One in four firms harbour tablet plans

But analyst's research suggests few will allow employees to choose their own devices

More than a quarter of firms are embracing tablet PCs, according to research from analyst house Forrester.

In a survey of 2,300 IT executives from Canada, France, Germany, the UK and the US, 26 per cent said they are planning to use tablet PCs in the workplace.

Despite this, only two per cent said they would allow employees to choose their own devices because of security concerns.

However, Forrester predicts this number will increase over time as hosted desktop adoption grows and firms gain a better understanding of how to integrate the devices with their existing IT infrastructure.

In a blog post, Forrester analyst Frank Gillett said the research highlights the impact personal devices are having on company's attitudes to IT management.

"The implications for vendor strategists are that personal devices, especially tablets, and web-based applications for PCs are driving big changes in how IT organisations support and manage end-user computing," he stated.

"Centralised device management will still matter in a world that increasingly uses web-based applications, and will expand to include a greater variety of devices."