IT support could become even more integral to businesses over the next few months as postal strikes begin to effect deliveries, it has been claimed.

Businesses and companies will begin to look for alternatives to Royal Mail such as IT technology as the Communication Workers Union strikes progress, according to IT Pro.

Technology editor at the magazine Benny Har-Even explained that this could raise a number of security issues for some firms, which may rely increasingly on IT support to shore up their systems.

He said: "There are always people using phrases like cloud computing but they are quite unsure of how they share data online.

"There's technology built in to Windows 7 which is designed to make it easier for companies to connect to each other securely, so there are definitely other possibilities."

Speaking ahead of the proposed strikes earlier this week, business secretary Lord Peter Mandelson said: "Business will be quick to recognise that while you can picket a delivery office to stop the service or refuse to deliver letters; you cannot picket the ever-present internet."

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).