Archive for the ‘Industry’ Category
Tuesday, September 25th, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
Last week, in the article Is teleworking driving us crazy?, Matthew Wall discussed the benefits that mobile workers felt in working remotely during the Olympics.
However, he says, “And as the boundaries between work and family life become increasingly blurred in the “always-on” era of digital communications, what psychological pressure does this put on us and our relationships with partners and families?”
He also brought in the downsides and possible balance points:
“In a major study into the wellbeing of mobile workers conducted for iPass, a network provider, Dr Carolyn Axtell, senior lecturer at Sheffield University’s Institute of Work Psychology and Management, found more than a quarter of respondents said they worked 15 to 20 hours extra a week, largely because technology enabled them to do so, a trend “likely to have significant repercussions for work-life balance and employee well-being”…
And Dr Axtell’s work suggests productivity actually levels off among those working the longest hours, and even drops over time, as tiredness and stress eventually impair performance.
She says: “There is a fine balance between reaping the benefits of greater flexibility and control over when and where a person works versus working longer hours that may encroach detrimentally on personal life.
“However, when the balance is struck well – mobile workers can achieve a better work-life balance, feel a greater sense of control and well-being, and be more efficient and productive.”
Photo courtesy of cc 3.0 jnyemb
Teleworking after the Olympics >>
Friday, September 21st, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
We are collecting responses to our Q4 Mobile Workforce Survey and would love to hear from you!
This report has been great in showing trends in mobile devices (preferences, apps and usage), Wi-Fi usage, business travel issues and more.
- How much often do you connect to Wi-Fi?
- What smartphone do you have and will you get next?
- Has your national government embraced mobile technology enough in your viewpoint to serve the changing needs of your community?
You can also choose to receive the survey once it’s published to see how you compare to your peers.
Take the Survey! >>
Download our Q3 Report on “Mobile Darwinism” >>
Mobile Workforce Survey – which smartphone do YOU prefer? >>
Friday, September 7th, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
In this interview of Jeff Bezos on AllThingsD, he talks about the importance of Wi-Fi, in “Making Money While Keeping Prices Low: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Explains It All (Mostly)”
Question: You spent a lot of time going over Wi-Fi today. Clearly Internet access and accessibility is important.
Bezos: People don’t pay enough attention to [Wi-Fi]; it’s a mistake not to pay attention to it. These are connected devices. Think about it, you can buy more, but even just downloading photos from Facebook, how long do you want that to take? People have multiple devices these days, but they don’t necessarily want to download all their music to every device. But they do want to stream songs from any device they have with them. They also want to pull up Web pages fast — they go over Wi-Fi, too. It’s not just about buying things. These devices are not very useful unless they are connected to the Internet. The whole point is to connect to the Internet, and that means Wi-Fi. Even for 4G, you want Wi-Fi. You aren’t going to download a 3GB movie.
For more on the interview >>
Multiple devices, people-on-the-go, accessing data in the cloud. Wi-Fi enables all of that. That’s why iPass continues to expand our over 1 million commercial Wi-Fi hotspots, and offer easier, faster ways to connect. Give it a try.
Jeff Bezos: ‘Mistake to not pay attention to Wi-Fi’ >>
Tuesday, August 21st, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
You 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 >>
Hi! I’m a BYOD workaholic with a roaming problem, but I’m happy >>
Wednesday, August 1st, 2012
Han Dong, Sr. Product Marketing Manager
Last week I discussed Wi-Fi and the fact that most (90%) tablets are Wi-Fi only! However, tablets are not the only thing that is converting to Wi-Fi. The BYOD movement calls for Wi-Fi for all electronic devices.
Here is reason number two (out of five) on the value you get from using iPass Open Mobile:
2. Cloud-based Applications (and BYOD) are driving the need for MORE Wi-Fi.
With the strong movement for IT to add and deploy an increasing number of cloud-based services and applications, tied with the pervasive deployment of smartphones and tablets (often BYOD) that need to access much more data than ‘just email,’ the need for Wi-Fi access everywhere is now more important than ever.
iPass was built around the principle of delivering global Wi-Fi to mobile workers regardless of what device they’re using, from PCs-to-Macs and smartphones-to-tablets.
You can also try iPass free for 24 hours on your devices >>
Tune back in next week for reason #3, “When ‘Free Wi-Fi’ isn’t really ‘Free’”
Cloud-based apps drive need for Wi-Fi and iPass delivers [Part 2] >>
