Personal Computing Trends and Problems: An Empirical Study

This article reports the findings of a field study of personal computing in 173 U.S. companies. It identifies trends over the past five years in he use of personal computing as well as the corporate MIS departments’ roles, policies, and practices with regard to personal computing. A prioritized checklist of personal computing problems shows lack of user education, lack of a company-wide perspective on the use of personal computers, and overwhelming demands on MIS departments at the top in terms of problem intensity.