Nokia發佈“企業行動指數”研究報告

New Study Unveils “What’s Next for Asia” in Business Mobility Adoption by Organisations and Prosumers

Kuala Lumpur – Organisations and prosumers across Asia demonstrated strong adoption of mobile solutions for communication and collaboration, according to new research findings in a recent survey on business mobility commissioned by Nokia. As organisations continue to mobilize their workforce, simplicity and security are critical when choosing a mobile solution to deploy, manage and use. At the same time, prosumers have embraced the benefits of smartphones, and experienced a positive impact on work-life balance.

Key findings showed organisations in Singapore leading in mobility, indicating high adoption of at least two mobile solutions, with their IT infrastructure ready for virtual private network (VPN) and/or wireless local area network (LAN), and relevant security policies in place. Kuala Lumpur made the biggest leap this year, clinching the third sport after Bangalore. Hong Kong, Mumbai, and Bangkok indicated potential to drive higher adoption among organisations.

Prosumers in Mumbai and Bangalore took the lead in mobility, with high adoption of at least two mobile solutions, and enjoyed policies that encourage mobile work culture. However, Singapore prosumers lagged behind among all cities in mobility adoption with lesser usage of mobile solutions and lack of policies in place to provide a conducive mobility environment.

The research, conducted by independent research house, Saffron Hill, in September 2007 surveyed 300 key business and IT decision-makers and 300 prosumers in six cities, including Bangalore, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, and Singapore.

“Business mobility is here in Asia, and both organisations and prosumers are embracing it,” said Mathia Nalappan, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Enterprise Solutions, Nokia. “In our second year of the mobility index for organisations, we are pleased to see progress in this region, with many reaping the benefits that business mobility has to offer. Prosumers are also a growing influence on the mobility decisions of organisations and more are enjoying the returns of mobility through improved productivity and work-life balance.”

Collaboration and Communication Are Key for Organisations

Mobile email was the top mobile application used across all cities surveyed with 8 out of 10 organisations currently using it. In Bangkok, mobile email was used two times more than other applications. The top five mobile solutions cited by organisations across all cities being used currently revolve around communication and collaboration:
o Mobile Email (81.5%)
o Access to Internet on mobile device or phone (63.5%)
o Mobile calendar and contact info synchronisation with corporate network (59.8%)
o Access intranet or corporate database on mobile device/phone (46%)
o Applications to view office documents (58%)

Operational solutions such as field force applications and mobile enterprise applications were deployed to a lesser extent across the organisations, probably depending on the nature of the business needs. However, in Kuala Lumpur, deployment of such operational solutions were higher compared to other cities, with 44% of respondents indicating their organisations currently using applications for delivery personnel, and 36% using field service applications on mobile device or phone.

In choosing the mobile email solutions, security provisions (55%) remained the top concern among organisations across the region, followed by IT management capabilities of provider (45.6%), and wireless LAN or WiFi hotspot capabilities (43%).

Today, security is top of mind for many IT decision makers. Almost 6 out of 10 organisations across the six cities cited having security policies in place to govern access of corporate intranet from mobile devices other than laptops. However, the implementation of the security policies varied across cities. In Bangalore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur, 100% of respondents who had security policies in place claimed that the policy is currently implemented, compared to an average of 9 out of 10 organisations in Singapore, Mumbai and Bangkok.

Simplicity and security were key criteria in choosing a mobile solution for organisations. 61.7% of organisations indicated ease to deploy, manage and use in a mobility solution as a key factor, followed by security (57%) and providing the best connection possible (55%).

The benefits of business mobility were also understood by most organisations. Almost 8 out of 10 organisations across the region agreed that highly flexible or mobile employees result in increased productivity, while 77.3% of the organisations agreed that mobility leads to better work-life balance. This was followed closely by 76% agreeing that mobility leads to increased sales and services, better customer service and significant competitive advantage.

Mobility Brings Positive Life Impact for Prosumers

The vast majority of prosumers agreed that their work-life balance had improved after starting to use smartphones or personal digital assistants (PDAs). Prosumers in Bangkok topped the list with 86% followed closely by Mumbai with 82% of respondents agreeing. The smartphone or PDA has apparently become an indispensable tool for those who cannot imagine not using it.

Smartphones or PDAs are deemed as the communication tool for business by most prosumers across the region. Other common benefits cited include having all contact information readily available, calendar or reminder functions at hand, and ability to access up-to-date information.

In line with the top mobile applications deployed by organisations, prosumers are also showing high adoption of mobile email, calendaring, accessing the Internet and Intranet, viewing office files and mobile access to files and sharing. Again, the operational solutions are also used by a lesser proportion of the end-users, probably based on their job functions and nature of business.

Key barriers to prosumer adoption vary across the region, such as 8 out of 10 prosumers in Hong Kong are concerned about the expectation to be available at all times, while 82% of prosumers in Kuala Lumpur perceived smartphones or PDAs as too expensive.

Despite these concerns, generally, across the region, the prosumers agreed that there are many benefits for mobility including productivity, work-life balance, competitive advantage, keeping in touch and managing work.