CIOs ring desk phone death knell

Desk phones will be consigned to the annals of office history by 2017, according to a Virgin Media Business poll involving 500 IT directors.

More than two thirds of respondents predict the telephone will disappear from everyday use within five years, while 24 per cent tip tablets to fall out of favour within the same period.

The desktop PC was mooted by 62 per cent of CIOs as the next piece of office hardware to become redundant.

Many employees enjoy using state-of-the-art consumer devices.

However, it seems the smartphone is here to stay, with just 13 percent expecting it to disappear by 2017.

Tony Grace, chief operating officer of Virgin Media Business, said the availability of public Wi-FI and 3G has rendered many fixed devices obsolete.

"Businesses have recognised the importance of the mini computers that smartphones have essentially become," he said.

"However, tablet technology still has a long way to go to justify itself and sit alongside smartphones as essential business equipment," he added.

Andrew Douglas, principal consultant at ICT consultancy Hudson & Yorke, dismissed the survey's tablet findings.

"Many employees at all levels enjoy being able to use state-of-the-art consumer devices, predominantly tablets and smartphones rather than traditional business-supplied devices," Douglas told IT Pro.

"Tablets are increasingly able to perform a wider range of PC-like functions, thus extending this issue beyond just emails and attachments," he added.