A global survey conducted by application performance firm Riverbed Technology has found that 85% of companies are likely to more closely monitor the performance of their application and networks, including Wi-Fi, due to strain from employees accessing Olympic content.

The snapshot survey was initiated to see how companies would approach any potential critical business application and network strain from employees streaming Olympic coverage and relevant online content at the office.

A statement released by the company explains that only 2% of the majority companies surveyed stated that they were very unlikely to monitor any differently during the Olympics.

"As athletes prepare for the games, IT organisations need to prepare for the significant increase in network traffic that will occur as a result of employees accessing and streaming online content and applications, and the related increase in volatility of that network demand," said Mike Sargent, Senior Vice President and General Manager, SteelCentral at Riverbed. "It is crucial for companies to shine a spotlight on the current and anticipated end-to-end performance of business critical applications, especially during major events."

According to the survey companies expected employees to access Olympic content using the company's networks, including Wi-Fi, most frequently via their desktops and laptops (48%); followed by smartphones (34%); and then tablets or other non-smartphone devices (18%).

"At 44%, Brazil was the only country surveyed that believed by a slight margin that most of its employees would access Olympics games coverage at work more from smartphones than desktop or laptop computers, tablets or other non-smartphone devices," said Riverbed Technology.

The company added that the reason for monitoring employees' access to Olympic content could potentially be linked to companies being unable to quickly pinpoint and resolve performance issues of critical business applications: Less than half of the companies surveyed, 43%, were very confident that their organisations could safeguard critical applications during high network traffic events such as the Olympics, while 12% were not confident that their companies could handle the added strain and traffic.

In one of the most revealing statistics, companies were asked if they've had an issue, even once, with their networks, including Wi-Fi, specifically because employees were accessing content during a popular event such as the Olympics.

"The majority of companies responded yes (69%), with 30% of these same companies saying that they have experienced more than one episode of issues. The survey also found that the majority (70%) of companies said they would limit or probably limit employees from accessing Olympic content through company networks, including Wi-Fi, in some way, with 24% saying they will definitely limit content and 46% saying they would probably limit content," Riverbed Technology stated.