Mobile Device Reliability Anxiety Among Mobile Workers And Economies
New research released today shows that mobile device reliability is having an enormous impact on the health and well-being of mobile workers, with over 40% experiencing stress or anxiety due to device issues that prevent them from completing their job effectively.
The strain of dealing with device issues in the field, such as battery failure or crashing apps, led to 16% of mobile workers taking at least one day off work in the last year, including 7% who took six or more days sick leave as a result.
When the findings are applied to the entire US mobile workforce, the cost of sick leave taken as a result of stress or anxiety caused by device reliability issues to the US economy would be at least$8.6bn per year. Added to the UK research results, the economic impact to both economies would be at least $10.2bn.
The figures are the result of a survey of mobile workers in the US and UK by B2M Solutions, a global software company that dramatically improves how enterprise mobility is operated and managed.
The impact to businesses for the time that staff take away from work increases the Total Cost of Ownership of mobile devices, the typical metric for measuring return on investment, by up to 14% per year. B2M states this is a key component in deriving the True Cost of Ownership™.
Gary Lee, B2M Chief Revenue Officer, commented: “The findings of our report paint a disturbing picture. Businesses need to take proactive steps to predict and prevent mobile related issues before they impact the mobile worker.”
David Krebs, EVP, VDC Research, added: “At VDC, we have found in our own research that poorly designed mobile solutions frequently translate to lost productivity and worker frustration as a result of mobile devices and/or applications not performing adequately, adding to the overall solution costs. Solutions like B2M’s Elemez™ provide a real-time view of performance issues, and thus a way to potentially control these costs.”
