South African companies are recognising the potential productivity benefits and embracing mobile working, despite security and crime concerns, Citrix Systems revealed today.
This is just one of the key findings of the second year of research in the area of employee mobility commissioned by Citrix and conducted by independent research house, Coleman-Parkes. The research included in-depth interviews with 500 directors in the UK, Ireland, The Netherlands, Belgium and South Africa.
"Security and crime are top concerns for SA companies employing mobile workers, though interestingly device loss is perceived as more costly than the loss of information on the device," says Chris Norton, General Manager of Citrix.
The research found that more than half of leading companies in SA had created a contingency fund to cover the cost of loss of mobile devices and that these funds are increasing annually.
This points to South Africa`s growing acceptance of mobile work as a viable means of enabling a flexible work environment and encouraging greater productivity among employees.
"The South African market is in the process of major change and development with the majority of users (76%) reporting better alignment between business and IT needs, companies showing a greater need for and understanding of, mobile working, a move to centralised IT management and control to manage the move to and demands of flexible working, and massive productivity gains as mobile working technologies are being adopted," says Ian Parkes of Coleman-Parkes Research House.
A global specialist in access infrastructure, Citrix`s solution set enables users to access information, using any device over any network connection while offering security and cost-effectiveness.
What the research reveals
Productivity was listed as the key benefit of mobile working with more than half of SA companies indicating that remote access to applications made employees more productive.
But SA`s understanding of mobile work is still limited with the majority of companies that have adopted mobile working environments, defining it as mobile access to e-mail and in some cases the Internet and the company intranet as well.
Norton says this highlights the need for education and communication around mobile work. And South African companies seem to agree with most indicating that IT teams need to communicate more with their mobile workers about ways to work smarter and more securely.
Parkes also notes that SA companies have understood that to work in a mobile environment you need to be trained, with 60% training employees in how to be an effective mobile worker. Forty percent of those that do not provide training indicated that employees do not think it is important, while in one-third of those companies senior management commitment was lacking. Cost was also a factor.
As in the previous year`s research, trust is still an issue. "Like all other countries, companies have to overcome the issue of trust in mobile working which is seen as a key impediment to the successful implementation of the technology. This will take time as the real benefits of mobile working come through," he says.
Overall, the research points not only to increased interest in mobile working but also to an increased need for training and education around mobility and to solutions around device loss.
Share