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Research: Mobile working on the increase

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Rhetorik ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 25 Sep 2007 09:59 BST

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Applications on handheld mobile devices
Respondents were asked about the applications run on their organisation's handheld mobile devices today, and those they would like to have available in two years' time. Some interesting insights were obtained on the demand for certain key applications in the near future.

Key applications in use
Tier one applications that are in use today are voice, email, SMS, internet access, data communications and electronic diary/calendar/personal organiser. These were all reported by 60 percent or more of the research base. With relatively high penetration, less than 10 percent of additional organisations would like to deploy these applications over the next two years, although this does not preclude growth in the number of users within existing user enterprises.

Tier two applications are personal directory, instant messaging and global positioning systems (GPS). Current use in the company was noted by between a quarter and two-fifths of all respondents. Personal directory applications have possible incremental growth within the band discussed above, but for GPS and instant messaging, the potential is much higher. Almost a fifth of all the organisations researched would like to have instant-messaging applications available over the next two years, and this number was even higher for GPS. With close to a quarter of the respondent base wanting GPS, the application has the potential to almost double in penetration, to almost half of all enterprises researched.

Mobile videoconferencing and database applications are also considered key applications, not so much for their current user base (10 percent and 16 percent of the respondent base respectively) but for their high growth potential. A massive 29 percent of respondents would like to deploy mobile videoconferencing to their users in the next two years, and one-fifth would do the same with database applications.

Data communications, email and internet access are used less in the small-business sector, and personal directory, electronic diary and database applications appear most popular with the largest of enterprises.

Figure 9: Key applications on handheld mobile devices

Q7 Which of the following applications are used or accessed currently for work purposes on the handheld mobile devices within your organisation? And which additional applications would you like to have available on handheld mobile devices in the near future (next two years)? (multiple response)
Base: All respondents; Total: 371
Source: Rhetorik 2007

Other applications in use
Image capture and transmission, video, CRM, presence applications and high-quality audio all rate well, with between one-quarter and a one-tenth of all respondents noting use.

Next came other business applications, ERP/ERM, shared workspace and push-to-talk applications, at between eight and nine percent of the research base. Lowest use was recorded for whiteboarding and contactless smartcard payment systems, at five to six percent.

The research pointed to significant potential for growth with many of these applications over the next two years. Collaborative applications — presence, shared workspace and whiteboarding — plus access to the company's CRM, scored highest in terms of those applications organisations would like to deploy. All of these could be taken up by close to one-fifth of respondent enterprises.

Push-to-talk applications seemed to attract the least interest, but all the others have the potential to be adopted by a significant 11 to 14 percent of the companies we researched.

The collaborative applications — presence, shared workspace and whiteboarding — seem most popular with the largest of organisations (large corporates).

Figure 10: Other applications on handheld mobile devices

Q7 Which of the following applications are used or accessed currently for work purposes on the handheld mobile devices within your organisation? And which additional applications would you like to have available on handheld mobile devices in the near future (next two years)? (multiple response)
Base: All respondents; Total: 371
Source: Rhetorik 2007

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