VMware Study Finds Speed of Business Pushing IT to the Limit

As Millennials move towards era of ‘free-agent’ working, business risks alienating talent

Sydney, 21 May, 2014 - VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure today announced the results of its third annual end-user computing study. The study finds that the need and demand for greater mobility in the workplace is placing pressure on businesses to address the management of corporate networks and enterprise IT resources. The millennial workforce (those born after 1982) are spearheading the drive towards companies enabling end-users to seamlessly move between their desktop, laptop, tablet, and mobile devices during the course of their working day, in order to respond to the accelerating speed of business.

This year’s EUC survey found that nearly three quarters (73 percent) of employees in Australia now work outside of the office. Furthermore, 42 percent agreed that trying to be more productive and less distracted was the key trigger for working offsite. Many employees surveyed said they feel the company does not meet their needs in terms of allowing them to be productive both in the office and offsite. Specifically:

43 percent of respondents felt their company does not invest enough in new technology to help them do their work
57 percent felt that their company IT policies are too strict and
36 percent agreed that IT policies slow them down in terms of completing tasks

“As young people enter today’s workforce, they expect the same level of flexibility and convenience they enjoy as consumers,” said Asanga Wanigatunga, Senior Product Manager, End User Computing, VMware. “To be told they can’t use their favourite apps, or access work email on their favourite devices, may be incomprehensible to them. Millennials are shaping our future workplaces, and if businesses want to remain competitive, they need to loosen the reins on IT and enable better work/life balance. The platforms and tools now exist to secure the enterprise whilst empowering workers at the same time. Companies who recognise this will be able to stay one step ahead.”

As a result of this trend, an employee’s home/home office was considered the ideal place to work (55 percent), followed by the company office at just 37 percent. In terms of company support for mobile workers, employees are looking for equipment and hardware that allow them to work anywhere (61 percent), access to applications they need on their own devices (58 percent) and a comprehensive and accepted flexible working policy (46 percent).

From the IT department, employees expect equipment that works (66 percent), fast network access (55 percent) and quick or real-time responses to IT requests (55 percent). This is to enable workers to be productive outside of office hours (53 percent), to have seamless remote access to work from anywhere (48 percent) and flexibility to manage personal matters (41 percent).

“Many employees are choosing companies they want to work for, rather than the other way around,” Wanigatunga added. “To attract the best talent, companies need to allow employees to work in the way that drives their productivity and lifestyle preferences. VMware has developed VMware Horizon™ to address this trend in the workplace, whilst also providing business and IT with the ability to maintain control of enterprise data and security. It will be valuable for businesses to respond to the changing workforce and put a strategic and unified solution and policy in place before it’s too late.”

VMware’s end-user computing study was conducted in January and February 2014, and surveyed 151 respondents across Australia.

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About VMware
VMware is the leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud Era. Customers rely on VMware to help them transform the way they build, deliver and consume Information Technology resources in a manner that is evolutionary and based on their specific needs. With 2013 revenues of $5.21 billion, VMware has more than 500,000 customers and 75,000 partners. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.

VMware and VMware Horizon are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. The use of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding the expected demand for and adoption of mobile and end user computing technologies in the Asia Pacific region and in Australia, their potential benefits to customers and the role of VMware solutions in addressing future customer needs and requirements These forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor provisions created by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to (i) changes to priorities and levels of government spending; (ii) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (iii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, industry consolidation, entry of new competitors into the virtualization and cloud computing markets, and new product and marketing initiatives by our competitors; (v) our customers’ ability to develop, and to transition to, new products and computing strategies such as cloud computing; (vi) the uncertainty of customer acceptance of emerging technology; (vii) rapid technological and market changes in virtualization software and platforms for cloud and desktop computing; (viii) changes to product development timelines; (ix) VMware’s ability to protect its proprietary technology; and (x) VMware’s ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees. These forward looking statements are based on current expectations and are subject to uncertainties and changes in condition, significance, value and effect as well as other risks detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K that we may file from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. VMware assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

Media Contacts:
Ian Murphy Text100 ian.murphy@text100.com.au	Samantha Forrest Senior Communications Manager VMware, ANZ sforrest@vmware.com