Q1 2013 Mobile Workforce Report: BYOD and costs impact productivity
Monday, March 25th, 2013 Chris Witeck, Director Product MarketingToday iPass released our Q1 2013 Mobile Workforce Report. In this report we interviewed 1,600 mobile workers across the globe to learn more about the mobile devices they use, how they use them for work and personal reasons and the impact that mobility has on their lives.
In our quarterly reports we are always looking at the latest statistics and trends regarding mobile devices and BYOD to see what’s changed from previous reports. In this quarter’s report there were a few items that jumped out to me as really interesting.
The first point I wanted to touch on is in regards to how many devices people carry with them when they travel. Previously we had noticed that the number of devices people carrying was tracking upwards, meaning that even with the advent of increasingly powerful devices, mobile workers were not consolidating devices. In this report we did see this trend stop. In 2011 Mobile Workers carried on average 2.7 devices (spanning tablets, laptops, smartphones, netbooks, etc.). In 2012 that jumped to 3.5 devices. For the Q1 2013 report that dropped to 3 devices (2.95).
Where was the drop? Slight drop across laptops carried (not surprising as increasingly powerful tablets can suffice as a laptop replacement in many instances) but also a slight drop in smartphones. My take on that is that with BYOD policies increasingly popular and accepted across the enterprise, many users no longer are traveling with two or more smartphones (their work issued device and their personal device) and instead are traveling with a single device that is used for work and personal reasons.
It will be interesting to monitor this trend going forward to see if it continues to decrease. I’m expecting the laptop number to keep to a downward trend as tablets and laptop/tablet hybrid devices allow users to leave that heavier laptop at home.
The second point is looking at tablets themselves. We asked mobile workers what tablets they currently own or intend to purchase in the next six months. No surprise that the iPad continues to be the tablet form factor of choice. But it is interesting to see a few other tablets work their way into the hands of mobile workers. 65% of mobile workers have or plan to get an iPad, along with 25% owning or planning to get an iPad Mini. However 28% of mobile workers have or plan to get a Samsung Galaxy tablet and over 17% plan have or plan to get a Windows 8 tablet. So this is another trend that will be fun to watch in coming quarters to see if Android and Windows tablets continue to gain traction as a serious iPad alternative.
We also in this report continue to find that most tablets in the hands of mobile workers are personally owned vs. work issued. In 2012 we found that 74% of tablets were personally owned (yet used for work and personal purposes) and in 2013 that number increased to 79%. That is interesting in that we have seen more organizations issuing tablets to their workers. I’m thinking that both personally owned and work issued tablets are growing markets, we are just seeing the market for personally owned tablets growing faster.
The last point I will touch on in today’s blog post is in regards to the cost of mobility. We asked mobile workers how much data they consume on their smartphones. In 2012, 30% answered “don’t know” or “don’t care”. That number dropped to 17% in 2013, showing that people are definitely paying more attention to their data consumption. That is expected as less and less mobile workers have access to unlimited data plans and more are using their own personal device- so are more likely to focus on the cost than if someone else was paying the bill.
This definitely can have performance impacts, if a mobile worker starts to bump up against a data limit, they will use that device less for work related purposes. This is something for the enterprise to consider as part of their BYOD policy, making sure BYOD doesn’t inadvertently limit productivity because of data costs borne by the employee. How much data is being used? We found that 30% of mobile workers are consuming more than 1GB per month. I expect that number to rise as we continue to see the proliferation of applications and services that are data hungry- things like video streaming and calling being used for work and personal reasons.
This is just a small sample of what is in this quarter’s report. To learn more be sure to download the entire report. Also, be sure to check out the information on iPass Open Mobile on our website. As organizations look to balance the requirements of BYOD and corporate issued devices while making sure employees stay productive on the go, iPass Open Mobile can serve as an effective way to make sure your employees stay connected without having to worry about data roaming costs and having to expense back Wi-Fi day passes.
Tags: Android, iOS, iPhone, mobile worker, report, smartphone, tablet, Wi-Fi
