Take Smartphone's, for instance. While handheld systems have become overall, just 11% are used by workers on the job, according to the Forrester survey of more than 2,000 "information workers," which the researcher defines as any office worker who uses a computer.

Those results suggest that Smartphones remain more of a perk for senior managers than a tool for employees.

The survey also produced interesting conclusions about the business use of instant messaging, social networking and Web conferencing tools. Instant messaging gets the most traction, but still, less than 25% of the workers surveyed use this tool with some frequency. Only about 10% of the workers said they use technology at work. Only 15% report using social networks at work.

The survey found that e -mail and the telephone remain the primary means of business communication.

Those results indicated that IT managers may be out of synch with their workforces, who are often collaborating with people based in . A significant number of respondents, some 30%, say they work in teams where members are in different locations, and nearly 11% said they regularly work with employees of other firms.