Hi! I’m a BYOD workaholic with a roaming problem, but I’m happy
Tuesday, August 21st, 2012 Karen Ambrose Hickey, EditorYou open the envelope and the answer is…$1089.14?! 883 €?!
Our newest iPass Mobile Workforce Report is out and the question is: What is the average cost of “bill shock”?
The trends shaping the mobile workplace — BYOD, data roaming bills, soaring data use — show no signs of subsiding. Mobile workers must adapt to them and are being as creative as possible. Many already have by tapping Wi-Fi as a complement to cellular, making it a BYOD + BYON solution to maximize connectivity. With Wi-Fi making a commercial comeback, a “bring-your-own-network” mentality is helping mobile workers continue to be more productive working up to 20 hours more per week.
Roam when you want to? Not really
Mobile workers in every country experience bill shock (43%) and on average, they think that they are being charged too much for data roaming. 62% of mobile workers would prefer to get a worldwide Wi-Fi plan from their carriers and feel that their company should pay for their Wi-Fi usage.
Video killing the telephone star
80% of mobile workers prefer to use Wi-Fi for mobile application use and Wi-Fi was even favored for making international phone calls, with Skype being favored almost 2x more than Cisco or Apple Facetime. 29% of mobile workers were using smartphones for video chats and 27% on tablets.
Flexibility is king
The payoff for solving the data roaming challenge is potentially great. As this report shows, employees who are given flexibility and the ability to connect anywhere and everywhere are happy. 92% said that the best thing about being a mobile worker is the flexibility. Yes, they rarely disconnect when on holiday (only 8% do); but the opportunity to manage their own schedule, device and network makes it the preferred way of doing business.
Read the latest iPass Mobile Workforce Report >>
Read the press release >>
Tags: enterprise mobility, mobile device, mobile employee, mobile workforce, Reports, smartphone, tablet
