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 >>
Monday, August 20th, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
Our newest Mobile Workforce Report is out Wednesday and we ask what mobile workers do while remote on a conference call.
For the obvious, most people do email. That’s consistent worldwide, followed by “completing another work task.” And the third most common? Making yourself a cup of coffee or tea.
As mobile workers, we embrace our flexibility with the ability to get more done. However, this productivity means we are often balancing multiple tasks or workshifting to fit more in.
Granted that almost 17% of you never multi-task and I appreciate those kinds of colleagues when I’m leading the call. Here are a few more responses:
- Telling your kids to be quiet: 9%
- Making other phone calls: 4%
- Driving: 19%
- Cycling: 0.5%
For those of you that filled in “Other”, here’s what you have to say:
- Knit
- Chat
- Fill out surveys
- Exercise
- Pay bills
- Research the conference topic
- or “anything so not to fall into a coma on long calls”
Thanks for taking the time to fill out our survey. Come back tomorrow and see the results on data roaming, mobile work flexibility, and the BYOD vs. security debate.
Image credit: martinan / 123RF Stock Photo
You don’t only multi-task when on conference calls; coffee or tea? >>
Tuesday, August 14th, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
This article caught my eye. We are about to release our Mobile Workforce Report and data roaming costs continue to be an irritant to business travelers.
BILL SHOCK: Five-step guide to avoid hefty data roaming fees by
Claire Connelly, Technology Reporter from news.com.au provides a few tips; some might be new for you to think about.
1. Turn off data roaming AND location services.
2. Buy a local SIM card
Read the article here >>
And don’t forget to look for Wi-Fi, particularly if you are an iPass user! It’s nice to bring your network with you.
More tips on saving on roaming costs >>
Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
iPass has surpassed the one million mark in premium Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide, a huge feat considering not all hotspots are created equal. Our network strives to serve our customers in the places that matter most to them. While devices are cheap, networks are expensive and there are two global trends affecting our communications; as employees, as companies and as network providers.
Connectivity, enabled by the cloud and by the proliferation of mobile devices, has changed the way we work and how we communicate in our daily lives forever. Data and history have moved to the cloud. As mobile devices, apps and Wi-Fi proliferate, our access to that data becomes easier and more predictable. Even telecom providers are looking for global roaming for their subscribers, keeping them connected across fragmented networks.
Consumerization, or the Bring-your-Own-Device (BYOD) trend, has been led by mobile workers wanting to use the devices best for their productivity. As more devices explode into the market, employees are now choosing different devices for different tasks, often leveraging the same Wi-Fi hotspot, rather than paying for multiple connection plans. With this desire for picking their devices, employees are working longer hours, staying more connected than ever.
BYOD is not just a security issue though, it’s a network cost issue. As our consumption rises, data diets increase and there only so much people are willing to pay per MB. Increasingly, people can bring their own networks with the proliferation of Wi-Fi. Bring Your Own Network (BYON) is a trend that is catering to rising network costs as enterprises and consumers look to Wi-Fi networks to mitigate the cost of cellular data roaming by connecting to Wi-Fi whenever and wherever possible.
Mobile employees can be more productive in more places, and for lower cost. Wi-Fi is now available not only at cafes, hotels but also via planes, trains, buses and city-wide mesh networks. Because iPass offers access to premium hotspots, these travelers get fast, secure and reliable connectivity. With Wi-Fi complementing cellular networks, mobile employees can enjoy extended data roaming. They won’t need to rely on cellular data roaming when traveling, as millions do; nor worry about connecting the extra tablets and smartphones that they carry.
iPass has surpassed the one million mark in commercial Wi-Fi hotspots worldwide that can benefit both enterprise customers and telecom operator subscribers. Roam where you want to.
Read the Press Release >>
If you are traveling soon for business and want to try iPass for 24 hours, apply for our free trial >>
One million iPass hotspots and counting >>
Monday, July 30th, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
Whether you are in the middle of your summer holiday, or preparing for meeting/conference season in September, here are a few more iOS (and Android) travel apps for business travelers from Mashable.
1. Packing Pro
Packing is difficult, particularly if the destination has a different climate or alternative activities, requiring extra gear. Have you ever hoped your battery would hang on until you could get to the local office? Or forgotten some key necessity that you have to run out and purchase, while knowing you have a boxful of that item at home? (You could also check out Packing List on Android).
2. All Subway
AllSubway not only gives you 151 different metropolitan transit systems all over the world, with color-coded maps but most important? It’s all available offline. (For Android, we found aMetro-World Subway Maps)
Read the rest of the article for the other two >>
More travel apps – packing, subways and more >>
