When we asked 10,000 information workers globally what brands are on the devices, operating systems, and software they use for work, it came as no surprise that Microsoft dominates. More than 90% of employees rely on something Microsoft to get their jobs done (and we didn't even ask about office productivity suites). What's interesting and new, however, is the pervasiveness of other brands besides Microsoft in the workplace.

Note: We asked about desktop, laptop, smartphone, and tablet manufacturer; PC, tablet, and smartphone operating system; web browser, email, IM, and webconferencing  software.

Our data shows Apple and Google have joined tech stalwarts Dell and HP as the top five brands employees use at work. Google particularly has made major strides and is now second only to Microsoft in terms of pervasiveness in Asia Pacific and Latin American workplaces. The brand ecosystem differs outside of North America and Western Europe in other ways as well -- Lenovo is big in China, and Acer and Asus are big in Russia.

For IT, brand proliferation means that a multibrand ecosystem will consume ever more time and energy. Check out other interesting findings from The State Of Workforce Technology Adoption: Global Benchmark 2012. And for more information on how Forrester can help you use this data in your strategic planning process, click here.