Mobile Workforce Report

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Mobile Workforce Survey Results:

Section 1: The mobile stack

We have entered the post PC era. In the fourth quarter of 2010 101 million smartphones were sold versus 92 million PCs. When we look at device preference, it is evident that one year can make a huge difference. At this same time last year, we asked mobile employees if they could choose only one mobile device, what device would it be? Even in early 2010, mobile employees preferred smartphones over laptops, even though it was months before Apple announced the iPad. Today the smartphone still wins with 49 percent of mobile employees selecting it as their one device of choice (down from 63 percent in 2010), compared to 27 percent who preferred a laptop, (down from 37 percent in the previous year). But the surprise latecomer was the tablet, with 20 percent of mobile workers selecting a tablet as their one device of choice.

Combined preference of smartphones and tablets shows growth at the expense of the laptop: 69 percent this year versus 63 percent last year.

Figure 3: If you could use only one mobile device, what would be your mobile device of choice?

Looking specifically at what devices mobile employees preferred above all others, Apple won at the expense of the BlackBerry and the laptop. In the survey, 31 percent picked the iPhone as their one mobile device of choice (up from 18 percent in 2010), 19 percent picked the iPad, 8 percent picked an Android device (up from 3 percent in 2010), and 8 percent picked a BlackBerry (down from 33 percent in 2010).

Figure 4: If you could use only one mobile device, what would be your mobile device of choice?

Tablet adoption was the real surprise of this quarter’s survey, because of its rapid adoption. With predictions that tablets would sell in excess of 65 million in 2011 (as opposed to 16 million iPads in 2010), mobile workers are on the cutting edge of adoption. Today 65 percent of mobile workers surveyed reported that they used a tablet, and 27 percent of mobile workers reported that they actually used their tablet for work. By age, the younger generation lives up to the hyper-connected stereotype:

70 percent of those 22 to 34 (22 percent used a tablet for work; 48 percent for personal)
67 percent of those 35 to 44 (29 percent used a tablet for work; 38 percent for personal)
63 percent of those 45 to 54 (30 percent used a tablet for work; 33 percent for personal)
47 percent of those 55 to 64 (19 percent used a tablet for work; 28 percent for personal)

Figure 5: Do you currently have a tablet?

When push comes to shove, mobile employees could easily pick only one favorite mobile device. But we questioned how many mobile employees believed that there would be one über mobile device introduced in the next five years. Of those surveyed, 67 percent of mobile employees believed this was highly likely, while 30 percent believed it was unlikely.

This is in stark contrast to today, where the average mobile worker used 2.68 mobile devices for work. Younger workers (those 44 and under) used slightly more mobile devices for work than older workers. Younger workers used more than 2.7 devices for work (age 34 and under used 2.70 devices, those 35 to 44 used 2.73 devices), compared to those over 55 who used 2.38 mobile devices.

Figure 6: How many mobile devices do you use for work?

The average female mobile worker used the least number of devices for work at 2.34, and those dissatisfied with network coverage and speed used the most devices for work at 2.83. However monthly data usage for those dissatisfied with network coverage and speed is in line with data usage among the average mobile employee.

The applications and services they use
With the dominance of smartphones among mobile employees, we wanted to see what types of applications they were using. We found out:

60 percent of mobile workers checked in using their smartphone with a service like Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, and Shopkick.
66 percent of mobile workers had checked out (made a purchase or other transaction) using their smartphone).
87 percent used their smartphone for notifications such as sports scores, Facebook updates, SMS text messages, or other always-on applications.
57 percent had used their smartphone as an e-ticket or mobile boarding card.
44 percent used their smartphone to scan barcodes and compare prices.

Figure 7: In the last six months have you used your smartphone…?

Compared to older workers (ages 55 to 64), younger workers (those 34 and under) were more likely to:

Scan barcodes (48 percent, versus 30 percent);
Use their smartphone for an e-ticket (60 percent, versus 44 percent);
Provide notifications (92 percent, versus 71 percent);
Check out (70 percent, versus 58 percent);
Check in (70 percent of younger workers, versus 38 percent of older workers).

Figure 8: In the last six months have you used your smartphone to…?

When we looked at the applications used most by tablet users, we found them to be in line with the applications that smartphone users reported using in previous quarters’ reports. 36 percent used their tablets most frequently to send and receive email, 35 percent to surf the Internet, 12 percent to read electronic books, newspapers and magazines, and 7 percent to watch video content. Younger workers (those 34 and under) were more likely to use their tablets to surf the Internet (39 percent), versus older workers (those 55 and older) who were more likely to use their tablets to send and receive email (48 percent).

Figure 9: If you use a tablet or iPad, which applications do you most frequently use? (By age group.)

Two of the three services that tablet users ranked most useful when they travel were centered on connectivity. Considering that 85 percent of tablet users used Wi-Fi for their connectivity, it makes sense. The top three services were:

Accessing Wi-Fi in airports, cafes, hotels, etc. (81 percent ranked it in their top three; 47 percent ranked it first, 26 percent ranked it second, and 8 percent ranked it third);
Accessing corporate applications (49 percent ranked it in their top three, 12 percent ranked it first, 17 percent ranked it second, and 21 percent ranked it third); and
Using inflight Wi-Fi (47 percent ranked it in their top three; 26 percent ranked it first, 11 percent ranked it second, and 10 percent ranked it third).

Recommendations for IT:
The mobile stack is now the new unit of computing. It is important for enterprises to focus on the real costs of equipping their mobile employees with all the tools they need. It will not be the devices that are expensive; it will be the network costs. CIOs and their IT departments need to have the ability to control what types of data (email, video chat/streaming, web browsing) mobile employees use, and on what type of networks. Having as much visibility into this as possible will only prove to be an advantage for the enterprise, for their cost structure and compliance.