Nokia and EIU polled more than 500 global executives across a range of industries to find out how their organizations were using business mobility. In the survey, three quarters of the respondents pointed to human factors such as attracting the best talent-including new entrants to the workforce-improving customer support, and building brand reputations as reasons for deploying business mobility.
The survey shows that business mobility has gone mainstream. Well over one-third of executives reported that at least 20% of their employees can be considered 'mobile workers', defined as those who spend at least one day a week away from the office. Far from being a requirement for just a few specialized technology firms, business mobility is now seen as broadly applicable to companies in many industrial sectors.
Survey respondents cited competitive benefits of business mobility solutions, including:
- Important competitive advantages such as quicker response time to customers (36%);
- Improved collaboration within the enterprise (27%);
- And the ability to work with multiple partners/suppliers (12%).
The survey also showed that activities occurring in the field are increasingly core to the success of a business and companies can no longer rely on information merely being captured in the field. Respondents also planned to increase their use of mobility solutions over the next two years, with companies more likely to make greater use of:
- Remote network access (41%);
- Customer relationship management (34%);
- Collaborative applications such as mobile groupware (21%);
- And sales force automation (17%).
"This research clearly demonstrates that business mobility has arrived, and is viewed as a fundamental part of being competitive regardless of the industry," said Olivier Cognet, VP, strategy and business development, Enterprise Solutions, Nokia. "We have resolved a great deal of earlier mobility industry 'teething problems' related to infrastructure, and the need for business-optimized devices and complete solutions. Now is the time to fully reap the far-reaching benefits that business mobility has to offer."
Along with advantages, respondents also said business mobility brings challenges such as managing a mobile workforce (19%) and maintaining a cohesive culture across a dispersed workforce (18%). The ability to measure the impact of business mobility on a company's competitiveness was also cited (12%).
"By enabling decision-making 'on-the-move', business mobility solutions let organizations respond more quickly to customer needs, develop ideas for innovative products and services, and attract new talent," said Nigel Holloway, Research Director in the Americas at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "Although it presents new managerial challenges, the long term trend toward greater business mobility is clear."
