A recently released study by UK communication services provider Azzurri has revealed that employees are more productive when equipped with mobile devices and the ability to work from anywhere.
The majority of respondents – 62 percent – reported using their mobile devices for both the creation and consumption of content. The most common tasks completed by professionals on their devices are sending emails, sharing files and accessing company data. The ability to complete ordinary business processes at any time and any location seems to have invigorated employees, as nine out of 10 participants reported an increase in productivity.
The study, which included surveys from IT and telecom leaders at more than 180 firms, found that 93 percent of participants experienced greater productivity from staff members using mobiles devices outside the office. Almost 50 percent of those claimed the boost was substantial.
With mobile productivity boost, focus shifts to UC
Currently, companies are focusing on ways to enable mobile data access, but according to the report priorities are shifting toward the ability to provide remote business communication. Enterprises are increasingly focused on unified communications in general and workflow management and video conferencing in particular.
"Smartphones and tablets have transformed mobile devices from being for consumption to being used for creation and editing — and so are changing the way we all work," said Azzurri Communications CTO Rufus Grig. "The form factor shift towards devices with larger screens is enabling more meaningful work to be performed. Mobile productivity suites allowing proper editing of documents have made this a reality".
Video conferencing is currently ninth on a list of top priorities for IT specialists, but is expected to jump to second next year. Grig also noted that, as connectivity improves with increased access to Wi-Fi coverage and 4G mobile networks, a variety of services will become more prominent in the enterprise. Instant messaging, presence and Web conferencing will all become more valuable to companies in the near future.
According to the report, only 42 percent of organizations currently utilize tools for mobile device management. While another 17 percent have plans to do so soon, a large portion of companies employing bring-you-own-device and mobile work policies are woefully unprepared for the stress and risks such programs can cause to a network. Utilizing a third-party service provider to roll out an enterprise BYOD or mobile strategy is a reliable way to ensure that security is maintained and company networks are strong enough to handle the increase in traffic related to remote working.