Managing mobility a focus area for 2013, says Jabra

More companies are looking to embrace Unified Communications (UC) tools in 2013 to enable increased mobility for efficiency, and retaining and attracting top talent, a survey by hands-free communications vendor, Jabra and analyst firm, Frost and Sullivan, has found.

Jabra and Frost and Sullivan recently conducted a study to evaluate 302 companies’ strategic use of UC.

It found that workers are increasingly requesting to use mobile devices to aid their work performance and duties, with nearly 67% of Australian workers currently using smartphones for business purposes.

However, more than 30% of them continue to use their personal devices for business purposes.

“Given the expected increase in the use of mobile technology as a business tool over the new few years, companies that want to separate themselves from the pack would be well-served to begin deploying UC tools that enable employees to maximise their mobility and efficiency while at work,” Jabra A/NZ Managing Director, Fulvio Toniotti, said.

Jabra said the trend towards increased employee use of mobility-enabling devices can also be seen in the rapid proliferation of tablets — with 55% of employees already using tablets in the workplace.

According to Toniotti, nearly seven out of 10 organisations expect the use of smartphones and tablets to increase over the next few years.

“It is also a great way for employers to demonstrate their commitment to supporting mobility in the workplace creating not only a better work-life balance but also helping attract and retain top talent that are looking for increased flexibility from their organisation,” he said.

Toniotti mentioned providing a positive user experience and a safe and steady roll-out will be key to effective UC implementation and enabling mobility.

Of the companies surveyed, some did nothing to assist users, other companies commenced several support activities where the most effective was a ‘dedicated IT helpdesk’ (48%), training sessions (42%) followed by self-help literature (32%).

Respondents from the survey also said communicating and educating staff on the benefits of UC before roll-out (52%) and buy-in from employees (49%) were considered significantly important in their overall UC implementation.