Controls on the data which can be collected from the increased use of electronic gadgets must develop at a similar pace to the technology used to protect privacy, it has been stated.

Isabella Sankey, director of policy at independent human rights organisation Liberty, said that businesses with IT support and government organisations need to keep up and make sure there are laws in place to deal specifically with the use of technology in order to safeguard privacy rights.

She continued: "We see technology as being neutral - technology can be used for good and it can be used for the worst.

"We're not anti-technology; we just want the regulation to be there."

Ms Sankey's comments follow a Press Association report from this month, the House of Lords Constitution Committee's Inquiry into Surveillance and Data Collection found that the growth of surveillance in the UK was "undermining" the right to privacy.

It added that CCTV cameras were a particular antagonist in this sense, noting that there was more of them per person than in any other country in the world.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.