Demand for flexible working prompts growth in mobile technology

The desire for flexible working amongst staff has resulted in more businesses in the south west moving towards new mobile technologies, an IT study has found.

Carried out by Stem Group and Plymouth University, the South West Business IT Survey 2012 reveals that many companies are now looking into new technologies like the Cloud and mobile computing as a result of a demand from employees for flexibility on where and how they choose to work.

The survey has identified that staff having the ability to work from anywhere has cut down dramatically on the number of days lost to illness, bad weather and problems such as no transport and child care.

Of the companies surveyed, 80% said they supply staff with laptops and 70% provide mobile phones to employees.

Although IT budgets still only account for 1-5% of a business’ budget, companies are moving in a “positive direction”, prioritising improvements in productivity and business processes.

The survey predicts that during this year, there will be a further increased demand from the workforce for greater flexibility in their working environments, and that tablet computing will become more widely adopted.

Dr Nigel Jackson, Associate Professor at Plymouth University Business School, Reader in Persuasion and Communication, said:

"Over the past 12 months we have found that environmental concerns and improving business processes have become dramatically more important than last year. The extreme weather over the past year has had an effect on businesses, as witnessed by the recent floods, which has also encouraged companies to consider how decentralised use of IT can provide a solution. To a great extent these developments have been driving the greater interest in flexible working.

"This should be seen as a potentially good thing for organisations in the region. Not only can it help enhance productivity, it may also provide a means to side step some of the transport and geographical limitations the south west traditionally suffers from."

The survey was carried out between October and December 2012. More than 100 businesses from a wide variety of industry sectors responded. It is the second time the University and Stem Group, the Plymouth-based IT company, have teamed up for such a study.

Stephen Tyrrell, Managing Director of Stem Group added:

"The survey has identified some very interesting results, particularly the moving priority towards Cloud technology and enabling employees to use their own devices. This is especially important in the south west due to the region’s geographical limitations and something we specialise in."