Trends among enterprise IT departments are beginning to allow employees throughout their businesses to decide which mobile devices they should use.

A recent survey by security firm RSA found 60 percent of the 400 IT executives who responded have been allowing business employees to contribute some input on which smartphones the company should purchase. Others have put more decision making power in the hands of the employees, as 20 percent of respondents allow users to suggest exactly which devices the company should purchase.

As new technology becomes available in the smartphone market, IT trends are shifting to help decide which devices are most efficent.

"User-driven IT has the potential to deliver huge benefits to users and their organizations," said RSA COO Tom Heiser. "The companies that figure out how to unleash user know-how and consumer technologies while managing the risks will win this high stakes game."

The survey also highlighted the growing trend to adopt social networking for business operations, as 62 percent of respondents are actively using social media to communicate with business partners and customers.

This survey reveals a need for some IT departments to adapt to the changing environment, as a separate survey by Cisco recently found 50 percent of employees ignore company policy against social media, and 27 percent even change the settings on company devices to allow access to prohibited applications.