But while the use of personal devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets is liberating workers, it is handcuffing many IT departments. For every salesperson using his or her personal iPad to access corporate email or CRM, there are IT managers behind the scenes scrambling to manage personal devices, protect corporate data and intellectual property, and ensure compliance.

And many of these "consumerization of IT" strategies are haphazard, rattled by security fears and unclear data management policies, according to a of 750 front-line IT professionals, managers and executives, conducted by Dimensional Research and commissioned by Dell KACE.

The survey results shut the door on any doubts that "consumer IT" is just a catchphrase. Of the 750 survey respondents, 87 percent say their employees use personal devices for work-related purposes ranging from email and calendaring to texting to CRM and ERP. Eighty percent report that employees use personal smartphones and 69 percent say personal PCs are brought to work by employees.

Those are big numbers, and IT groups are feeling the pressure, according to the Dimensional Research report. With more devices in the workplace, there are more operating systems to manage and connect to corporate networks.

Of all the personal devices used for work, the Apple iPhone leads the way (72 percent), followed by Android-based smartphones (63 percent), Windows laptops or desktops (63 percent), the iPad tablet (60 percent) and the BlackBerry smartphone (52 percent).