Personal Business – Now do business from home.
Personal training is one area where computers are used, both at the office and at home. Studio business software is another area where businesses and personal usage can combine - one can take one's studio work from the office to home and continue to work on a project, which means that, from the corporation's perspective, that their employee is working more hours on their project. Personal business can be accomplished on the corporate computer. As an example, writing a letter to a business colleague could be interpreted as supporting the corporation's goals. Personal business letters, on the other hand, are solely in the private sphere. While an employee might use his or her computer at home to write a personal business letter, it's not OK for that individual to use a company-paid postage stamp in order to mail that letter. That definitely crosses over the line, since the corporation is debited for the individual's private needs.
Personal business cards are more difficult to decide for many companies. That is because it's in the interest of the corporation for the individual to promote his or her expertise amongst other professionals in the same line of work - that enhances the corporation's reputation in the eyes of its peers, and makes it easier for the company to recruit new professionals. Therefore, it may be acceptable for an individual to have his or her own business cards printed at the company's expense, as long as it can be justified on the basis of meeting company goals.
Business computer use was not an issue thirty years ago, because computing was done in a wholly different way. It was not possible for an employee to take a PDP 11 or an IBM 360 from the computing center to his or her home to get some work done during the evening. No, those computers were very large, kept in climate-controlled rooms and tended by special keepers who assured that the finicky systems could continue to work around the clock. Today's laptops offer a good deal more computing power, and make it possible for the employee to work from his home or his desk.