Unisys Study: Mobility Increases Productivity

Unisys has released a study that finds the key to success for mobile enterprises involves embracing mobility to fuel overall productivity and increase customer satisfaction.

According to "Mobility in Action," a worldwide study sponsored by Unisys, the access to information anytime, anywhere and using that access to increase customer interaction are the top goals of mobile enterprises. The study noted that 84 percent of companies that view themselves as “mobile trendsetters” cite gains in productivity as a result of their mobility investments. In addition, a majority of companies with comprehensive strategies said mobility has created new sources of revenue for their organizations.

Unisys’ Darren McGrath, global director of Mobility Solutions, said his company will utilize its findings to continue expanding mobile capabilities for its own employees in an effort to steadily improve the end user experience. Unisys hopes the findings also will help other companies with less-advanced mobile strategies to embrace a more holistic approach to mobility, rather than thinking of mobility as merely a part of the company’s infrastructure. “It keeps us in that visionary position,” McGrath said.

And while many companies have some sort of mobility initiative worked into their businesses, most mobile enterprises do not consider themselves to be those so-called "mobile trendsetters,” which are leading their contemporaries in terms of innovation. Overall, about 68 percent of the 400 executives surveyed said that their companies were only “mobile enabled” or “mobile aware,” while an additional 11 percent said they had no mobile strategy whatsoever.

With such a large percentage of organizations acknowledging their need for growth in mobility, it is likely that mobility services will continue to increase in use over the next several years. If companies do take McGrath’s advice to incorporate mobility into all aspects of their businesses, it could mean larger ROIs and an increase in customer satisfaction throughout the industry.

The real hurdle for many companies will be to ensure customers that their data is secure, especially in light of BYOD, which creates more complications in securing company information. And with the growing cost of application development, increasing a company’s mobility will remain a worthwhile but challenging affair, especially for those organizations that are the least experienced in providing these kinds of services.