iPass Global Mobile Workforce Survey Results Q3 2012:

Executive Summary

(view the infographic)

This quarter’s iPass Mobile Workforce Report examines the ongoing influence employees wield over their work devices and the prices carriers charge for data roaming. Both trends shape employees’ abilities to work flexibly. The report also provides insights into mobile employees’ work habits with a focus on how employees handle work during vacation. The findings include insights for enterprises, telecommunications firms and managers.

Some of the trends and observations obtained from this quarter’s report include:

• Bring your own device – BYOD means greater independence for mobile workers–and reduced visibility into mobile costs for IT departments. Eighteen percent of mobile workers indicate they now pay for their smartphone service plan, up six percent year-over-year. The shift has additional consequences for enterprises as employees utilize workarounds and other risky IT practices to access corporate data on their mobile devices.
• Bring Your Own Network (BYON)- Mobile operators, too, should take heed because mobile workers who are footing their own bills are especially wary of data charges. High roaming bills could spur workers to sever ties with their mobile operators, leading to an increase in churn and a loss in revenues. In addition, many enterprises are starting to see the complexity of global connectivity shifting attention to data access, making “bring your own network” (BYON) the next hot-button topic for enterprise and mobile employees.
  Why just bring your own device when you can bring your own network? Wi-Fi is expected to grow 4.5x over the next five years. Today mobile workers are typically within range of a Wi-Fi network 60 percent of the day; in the near future that will grow to 100 percent giving them access to the only universal network whether through their telecom service provider or through an enterprise Wi-Fi plan. BYON will allow mobile workers to bring their own network wherever they roam.
• Data roaming – mobile phone bills are spurring greater action and opposition among mobile workers. Compared to last year, more mobile employees are shutting off their devices’ data connections when they travel. An increasing number of workers also felt data roaming prices are too high and that the issue has become an important matter. Many mobile workers have personally dealt with these prices. Nearly half (43 percent) of workers have received data roaming bills they felt were too high. Employees said they encountered an expensive data roaming bill 1.4 times a year on average.
• Flexibility – is still top of mind for mobile workers. Employees have become even more tethered to technology in their daily lives and report they work as many as 20 additional hours a week online due to their flexible schedules. One-third of mobile workers said they never fully disconnect from technology, even during family and personal time. In some ways BYOD is enabling and supporting employees, allowing them to work more hours – and these hours help the bottom line of their companies. Despite these pressures, the majority of employees said they are content with the status of their flexible work and 42 percent said they would like more flexibility.

In this Report

• Introduction
• Section 1: Bring Your Own Device
• Section 2: Roam if You Want To…
• Section 3: Bring Your Own Network (BYON)
• Section 4: Flexibility
• Section 5: Staying Connected
• Section 6: We’re all Going on a Working Holiday
• Section 7: Killing the Telephone Softly — Video
• Section 8: Survey Methodology
• Conclusion