Mobile devices ‘critical’ to the SMB employee’s productivity

CDW’s 2012 Small Business Mobility report has just been released and it is chock full of interesting information regarding small businesses and the effect mobile devices have had on them in the last year. It is incredibly interesting to note the shift in attitude of employees towards mobile devices. Where in the recent past, mobile devices were simply convenience tools for employees that may or may not have been provided to them by employers — today they are an imperative. This imperative is not necessarily driven by the business, rather the employees are the ones driving this shift in the social framework around personal mobile devices and business data (and access to it).

Of the employees surveyed, 95% said that their mobile devices had made them more productive; and just in case you might think this is a case of the kids telling the doctor that the candy makes them smarter, 85% of the IT professionals at the same organizations said that the mobile devices had made their employees more productive. Of those users in these businesses, 55% use apps that they’ve purchased for business just for business, which is a really interesting indicator of how putting control of mobile devices into the hands of users can drive your business.

Currently, among laptops, smartphones and tablets, the smartphone is still the most utilized and most praised tool. Its collaborative capability mixed with the increased power of apps and flexibility of usage makes it the tool that is the most “business-ey” today. Survey participants (IT managers and Users alike) both agreed that there was a tablet rush in the wings, with both groups predicting an average 117% increase in tablet usage in their businesses just in the next year!

If you are a small business owner on the fence about whether or not you need to prepare for catch up to your employees when it comes to managing their mobile devices and managing their access to your data all while unlocking their productive potential …read the rest of this report. It’s in handy-dandy infographic/slide form. Get it now!