Research: Convergence in mobile communications

Rhetorik

Published: 25 Jul 2007 08:04 BST

Penetration of mobile convergence within the enterprise
Having established the knowledge base of our respondents, we next explored penetration of the key convergence areas within their existing operations.

Fixed/mobile convergence
The degree of implementation of fixed-mobile convergence within UK enterprises is currently quite low. Among our sample of organisations, all having some degree of mobility within the workforce, less than one-fifth reported a high or very high degree of convergence in this respect, and almost half (45 percent) stated this to be low or very low.

There was no apparent variation in the degree of integration of fixed/mobile convergence between large and small enterprises. However, the level of mobility within the enterprise did have an impact. The proportion of organisations reporting very high levels of convergence increased from only two percent for those least mobile (less than five percent mobile workforce) to 11 percent where mobility within the workforce was 70 percent or more.

Figure 3: Fixed/mobile convergence — degree of implementation

Q25.1: To what degree would you say that "fixed/mobile convergence" is currently implemented in your organisation? Please rate on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is "very high convergence" and 5 is "very low convergence".
Base: All respondents; Total: 371
Source: Rhetorik 2007

Convergence of voice/data and other services
When considering mobile convergence of voice, data and other services, the degree of implementation was higher. Almost one-quarter of all respondents claimed a high or very high degree of convergence, and only a third reported application to be low or very low.

Again, there were no significant variations apparent by size of enterprise but the level of mobility within the organisation was a clear differentiator in this respect. With only four percent of those least mobile (organisations with less than five percent of the workforce mobile) reporting a high degree of voice/data convergence, penetration increased to 15 percent for those with a mobile workforce of 70 percent or more.