It is true that consumer devices are designed to operate with a low-level of user technical knowledge and little or no technical support.

But on the other side, they have not been intended to be used to store and process the sort of critical, sensitive data or communications that businesses depend on.

CIOs must address these back-office issues to retain a coherent delivery of business systems, without losing the benefits of choice and flexibility.

A recent webcast hosted by CIO UK and including Simon Callow, head of IT at Aston Martin Lagonda, Owen Powell, IT director for NHS inner Northwest London PCT and Stephen Shakespeare, EU software director at Intel, established that there are some key technical considerations that must be taken into account if any CIO is to make a success of adopting a consumerisation approach.

There is a vast number of productivity-enhancing applications that users can download onto their smart devices, without the need for the IT department's input, but it is likely to be the more mundane ones that will have the most impact.