Organisations start to see remote possibilities

Flexible working, remote access to data and mobility are certainly among the most hyped technology issues of today. But have they made it to the top of the business agenda?

Computing, in association with O2, undertook one of the most wide-ranging surveys of mobility in the UK, examining the attitudes of IT managers to mobile data applications and assessing the progress made in implementing them.

The survey consisted of interviews with 600 readers of Computing and IT Week, conducted in February. We split the group into four categories:

• Notebook PCs
• Wireless networks
• PDA and other handheld devices
• Next-generation mobiles or smartphones

In terms of implementation, the results were as expected. Some 62 per cent said they had completed their investment in laptops. Another 23 per cent said rollout was still underway.

The PDAs/handheld and wireless technology groups were much less mature, with 20 and 19 per cent respectively saying they had completed their plans.

The majority have a PDA programme underway, under consideration or piloting. But more than a quarter have no plans to introduce PDAs, handhelds or wireless technology at work.

This suggests that many organisations don't yet see any purpose in fully implementing mobile technology, or, if they do, don't consider it a mainstream part of their IT strategy or a particular concern of the IT manager.

This appears especially true of next-generation or 3G phones, where about 60 per cent of the target audience have no plans for implementation.

Because these devices are already in common use, the findings underline the view that IT managers do not see mobile phone technology as any part of their duties or work interests.

It was further reinforced when 63 per cent of IT managers said their organisation had no specific strategy for mobile technologies. We also asked if they had a mobile strategy as part of their overall IT strategy and again, 63 per cent said no.

All of this would suggest that IT managers do not believe a mobile data strategy is important for their organisations.

However, of those who had implemented any kind of mobile strategy at all (192 respondents), 76 per cent said that having a strategy was 'fairly' or 'very' valuable.

And in terms of investment, on the estimates of the survey's respondents, about 12 per cent of IT budget is ploughed into mobile technology of one sort or another.

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