PASSAGE 9 (Questions 1-5)

The evolution of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend has been as profound as it has been rapid. It represents the more visible sign that the boundaries between personal life and work life are blurring. The 9 am - 5 pm model of working solely from office has become archaic and increasingly people are working extended hours from a range of locations. At the very heart of this evolution is the ability to access enterprise networks from anywhere and anytime. The concept of cloud computing serves effectively to extend the office out of office. The much heralded benefit of BYOD is greater productivity. However, recent research has suggested that this is the greatest myth of BYOD and the reality is that BYOD in practice poses new challenges that may outweigh the benefits. A worldwide survey commissioned by Fortinet choose to look at attitudes towards BYOD and security from the user's point of view instead of the IT manager's. Specifically, the survey was conducted in 15 territories on a group of graduate employees in their early twenties because they represent the first generation to enter the workplace with an expectation of own device use. Moreover, they also represent tomorrow's influencers and decision-makers.

The survey findings reveal that for financial organisations, the decision to embrace BYOD is extremely dangerous. Larger organisations will have mature IT strategies and policies in place. But what about smaller financial businesses? They might not have such well developed strategies to protect confidential data. Crucially, within younger employee group, 55% of the people share an expectation that they should be allowed to use their own devices in the workplace or for work purposes. With this expectation comes the very real risk that employees may consider contravening company policy banning the use of own devices. The threats posed by this level of subversion cannot be overstated.

The survey casts doubt on the idea of BYOD leading to greater productivity by revealing the real reason people want to use their own devices. Only 26% 'of people in this age group cite efficiency as the reason they want to use their own devices, while 63% admit that the main reason is so they have access to their favourite applications. But with personal applications so close to hand, the risks to the business must surely include distraction and time wasting. To support this assumption 46% of people polled acknowledge time wasting as the greatest threat to the organisation, while 42% citing greater exposure to theft or loss of confidential data. Clearly, from a user perspective there is a great deal of contradiction surrounding BYOD and there exists an undercurrent of selfishness where users expect to use their own devices, but mostly for personal interest. They recognise the risks to the organisation but are adamant that those risks are worth taking.

[Syndicate Bank(PO), 2013]

According to the passage, for which of the following reasons did Fortinet conduct the survey on a group of graduate employees in their early twenties?
A. As this group represents the future decision-makers.
B. As this group represents the first generation who entered the workforce with a better understanding of sophisticated gadgets.
C. As this group represents the first generation to enter the workplace expecting that they can use their own devices for work purpose.