Users of smartphone devices like the eponymous BlackBerry are estimated to be saving up to 60 minutes a day or five hours a week, according to new research. Many Irish executive are spending this time at home with family or doing exercise.
A study by BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) looked at tangible time-saving and productivity and found that mobile workers’ efficiency is increased by converting 60 minutes of downtime each day into productive time.
For workers on the move, the RIM survey estimates they increase time efficiency by 38pc when using these devices.
As mobile technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, the number of employees working on the move, remotely and flexibly is growing.
Research from Yankee Group (2006) recently found that more than 50pc of small-business employees in Europe are classified as mobile workers.
A new Irish survey undertaken by TNS mrbi for O2 Ireland amongst 300 small- to medium sized businesses (SMEs) found that in a business sense, 40pc would use an extra hour a day to do administration tasks, while 34pc would use the saved time on sales and marketing activity.
“In a personal sense, 32pc of SME owner-managers would use the saved time to relax more. 24pc would spend more time with their family and 21pc would take more exercise,” O2’s head of corporate and SME business, Billy D’Arcy, said.
Sedick Abrahams, IT Manager for RKD Architects in Dublin, says that the BlackBerry solution saves him an hour and a half a day.
“It makes me much more productive in the sense that I can deal with things as they happen, even when I am out of the office. I can respond to and action emails much quicker. This means I have less emails to catch up on when I return to the office,” Abrahams said.
By John Kennedy
