END OF THE OFFICE ROMANCE?

UK workers want mobility to let them work more often at home or out of the office

A survey commissioned by Damovo UK, the business communications provider,
has revealed that as mobile technology improves more people want to carry
out their work away from the office.  Over three quarters of respondents
said the main benefit they wanted from mobility was the ability to work
from home or to have greater flexibility to work from a non-office
location.

The survey, conducted by eDigitalResearch, asked nearly 500 UK workers in
the public and private sector, how they are currently using mobile devices
(eg. Smartphone, PDA, laptop) at work and their attitudes towards using
them.  44 per cent of those surveyed deemed mobile devices to be 'very
important' to their work, compared with only five per cent believing they
were 'not important' at all.

Traditionally, the office environment has been the target of Cupid's arrow
with many people meeting their partners at work. But while the rise of
mobile working may well see the end of the traditional office romance, the
signs are that mobile devices are in fact improving both peoples' personal
and working lives. Overall, 73 per cent of those questioned said they have
seen an improvement in their work/life balance as a result of using them.

The survey revealed that currently voice-calls remain the most important
mobile application during the working day followed by SMS text-messaging
and mobile internet.  However, mobile e-mail was undoubtedly seen as the
most important application in future (excluding traditional voice calls),
ahead of applications such as voice-over IP (VoIP) and instant messaging
(IM).  Interestingly, attachment viewing and editing were not seen as
important, however this may well change in the future as the number of
devices with the capability increases.

Paul Renucci, managing director of Damovo UK, said: "It is clear that more
people and organisations are seeing the benefits mobility can bring.  With
increasing technological advances people will be able to do more things
with less devices, which will provide many businesses with a great
opportunity to reduce costs, drive productivity and most importantly have a
happy workforce."

Full survey results:

1. How many mobile devices do you use for work?
-  1  (66%)
-  2  (26%)
-  3+ (8%)

2. How important are mobile devices to your work?
-  Very important (44%)
-  Quite important (39%)
-  Negligible (12%)
-  Not important (5%)

3. Have mobile solutions improved your work/life balance?
-  Yes (73%)
-  No (27%)

4. What mobile applications are most important to your working day? (ranked

in order of importance)
-  (1) Mobile voice calls
-  (2) Internet access
-  (3) SMS text messaging
-  (4) Mobile e-mail
-  (5) Attachment viewing
-  (6) Attachment editing

5. Other than standard voice calls, what mobile applications would prove
most useful to you in the future? (ranked in order of importance)
-  (1) Mobile e-mail
-  (2) Internet access
-  (3) Voice-over IP (VoIP)
-  (4) Instant messaging (IM)
-  (5) Attachment viewing
-  (6) Attachment editing

6. What is the main benefit you would want from mobility?
-  Greater flexibility to work from any non-office location (43%)
-  The ability to work from home (36%)
-  The ability to carry out work from one device (12%)
-  Greater collaboration with work colleagues and customers (7%)
-  Other (2%)

7. How do you currently carry around your mobile devices?
-  In your bag (61%)
-  In your pocket (32%)
-  On your belt (4%)
-  Other (3%)

The survey was conducted by eDigitalResearch on behalf of Damovo UK