I'm dreaming of a white (goods) Christmas

By: Robert May, Managing Director, ramsac limited

Food processors, cordless kettles, juicers, rotisseries - these are the kind of Christmas presents I want to see under fir trees on December 25 th .

Alas, the Magimix has been replaced by the MP3 player, the digital camera has usurped the electric carving knife, the humble cordless kettle has fallen victim to the handheld PC.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no technophobe - far from it - but at the risk of sounding arrogant, I know how to use technology responsibly. Sadly, many of the USB-endowed gadgets given with love over Christmas 2005 will be giving me, and thousands of other IT consultants, grief come January 2 nd 2006.

The problem is usability - modern devices are so easy to install that anyone who knows one end of a USB cable from the other can quickly join their PDA or iPod to their PC. Unfortunately, 'their' PC usually means the PC they spend the most time in front of, which more often than not is a computer at work.

While the act of attaching a device to a work's PC causes few problems in itself, the ramifications of having unchecked hardware and software joined to corporate networks can be far reaching.

Consider the scenario. Mr Smith, the Financial Director of AB&C Plastics gets a PDA for Christmas from his wife. Mr Smith is excited about picking up his e-mail on the move, accessing the Internet out of the office and generally having a mini-computer in his pocket. By Boxing Day he's already synched the device with his Bluetooth-enabled mobile phone (which is paid for by work) and installed the device on his work's laptop. By January 27 th he's picking up and sending e-mail from his PDA as well as browsing the Internet.in short, he's an IT accident waiting to happen.

The Internet and e-mail is awash with spam, spyware, viruses and other rogue elements. Companies spend a lot of money on firewall protection, e-mail blockers and other preventative measures designed to keep e-mail inboxes and file servers free from distractive and destructive files, yet people like Mr Smith are unwittingly jeopardising that investment by the simple act of installing a personal 'gadget' - which has nothing in the way of anti-virus protection - on a work's computer without notification or agreement.

There's also the very real, problem of managing these gadgets. Mr Smith has synched the e-mail programmes on both his PDA and his laptop, but he didn't really understand the screen about privileges and which machine has the power to permanently delete messages from the server. While travelling last week, Mr Smith deleted hundreds of e-mails from his PDA in-box thinking they were saved on the server at work.as soon as he synched his PDA he deleted those files, for good. Of course, Mr Smith instantly believed something had gone wrong and logged a call with IT support. IT Support, who were unaware of Mr Smith's PDA, spent the best part of the day trying to work out where the e-mails had disappeared to, wasting valuable time and money.

There's no doubting that these gadgets have made modern working life more flexible and accessible, but they have to be used appropriately. Most people wouldn't dream of taking a tin of paint to their office walls or putting up shelving behind their desks, so why is it acceptable to install all manner of gadgets and software on computers owned by an employer?

So please, this Xmas, if you unwrap a PalmPilot instead of a Breville, resist the temptation to introduce said gadget to your company laptop until you've spoken to the IT department and been given guidance on whether or not such devices are allowed.

When it comes to protecting corporate networks and servers, I'm happy to play Scrooge rather than Santa.

Gadgets? Bah humbug!