The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
We could be better workers as mobile users
Almost a third of the UK working population – 10.4 million people – could be using smartphones to be more productive at work, according to new research from Deloitte, Mobile Readiness for Work, based on survey responses from 3,369 UK workers.
Going mobile: narrowing the productivity gap
The study found that of the 32.3 million people in work in the UK, the majority (51%) spend some time away from a fixed location for their role.
Of all these workers, only 37% use a smartphone or tablet for work purposes, with the remainder either using a
PC, other devices such as handheld electronic devices or no technology at all within their role.
This means there are 10.4m employees – almost a third of the UK’s working population – who do not spend all their time at a fixed location and also do not use a mobile device.
Dan Adams, head of telecommunications at Deloitte, said: “For any role that requires movement, mobile technology should be essential. Almost one in three UK workers do not use a mobile device, despite spending a proportion of their time working away from a desk.
“There is a clear opportunity to narrow the productivity gap through improving the technology issued to employees.
“With every year tablets and smartphones become more capable: they are more powerful, secure and connect faster.
“Many consumer processes, from payments to travel to consulting doctors, have been redesigned for a mobile screen and the same revolution can now benefit the UK’s businesses.
“UK workers can unshackle themselves from their desks and leave their bulky laptops behind.”
Device adoption at work
Deloitte’s research found mobile devices (smartphones and tablets) are used by 40% of the UK working population – the equivalent of almost 13m people – while the majority of UK employees continue to use a laptop or desktop computer at work (62%). Overall, laptops were the most common device for work purposes, used by 37% of respondents, narrowly followed by desktop computers (36%) and smartphones (34%).
Tablets, the fourth most popular device, were used by a significantly lower proportion, at 14%.
Paul Lee, partner and head of research for technology, media and telecommunications at Deloitte, said: “For consumers, smartphones have become integral to many aspects of their daily lives, but this revolution has yet to happen in the workplace.
“Businesses should make core processes accessible via mobile devices.
“In many cases this may require the creation of a brand new app: the existing PC-based application cannot be simply dragged and dropped into a smaller space.
“As technology becomes more sophisticated and apps become more available, employers will respond by deploying mobile more widely.
“The smartphone will become used for a broader range of work processes, with the PC becoming a more specialised device used for more complex tasks, such as data analysis, which require a larger screen.”
Analogue inefficiencies: defeating doubling-up
Deloitte’s analysis identified the typical tasks carried out by the UK workforce.
These including timesheet management, job allocation, communication with clients and colleagues and accessing information that can all be carried out using a smartphone instead of a desktop computer or laptop.
Significantly, the research also revealed a proportion of workers are doubling-up tasks by not being digital-first.
On average, across all industries, 24% of workers fill out forms on paper.
Of these, two-thirds of workers who fill out forms on paper then copy data on to a digital format, most commonly using a PC.
This means more than 5m people in the UK are doubling-up on some tasks.