Federal technology managers foresee the use of tablet mobile computing devices by agency employees will nearly triple over the next two years, from 7% of employees in 2011 to 19% by 2013, and that smartphone use will increase from 35% to 43% of employees over the same period, as agencies look for alternatives to desktop PCs, according to a new survey.

The survey provided new evidence that agency IT officials are preparing for a post-PC era, where the need to reduce IT costs and increase worker productivity will be met with a combination of mobile devices and virtualized computing environments that rely on cloud computing platforms to deliver data.

The findings, based on a survey of 152 federal chief technology and IT managers working for civilian and defense agencies, confirm that moving to mobile devices to improve productivity, however, faces a number of challenges.

Three out of four federal IT professionals (78%) said security risks will pose “significant challenges” to implementing their agency’s mobile device policy.

Among other significant challenges are IT staffing to support multiple device environments (43%), the diversity of devices and platforms to manage (39%) and budget constraints (38%).

The study, released today by MeriTalk was underwritten by VMware and Carahsoft.

Caption: Robert Blake, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, is pictured on the screen of a tablet computing device during a press conference in Male on February 11, 2012.