Research has shown that UK workers waste 689,000 hours a month just waiting in airports, and ‘dead-time’ is something we all experience when travelling – whether that’s away on business or to and from meetings. Mobile technologies can help transform dead hours into productive time by allowing access to business information and by staying in touch with colleagues. The growing number of public WiFi hotspots boosts this; enabling faster and cheaper communications on the move.

Some managers worry if their workforce is productive when they can’t see them, or that mobile working might erode the existing business culture. In fact, 67% of mobile workers claim it actually improves relationships with managers and colleagues, and two-thirds said technology made them more productive.

Technology can help facilitate this – workers can now communicate and access the business information they need such as emails, attachments and the internet, on a device small enough to fit in their pocket. Staying in touch by phone and video-conferencing are also ways to ensure team structure can be maintained and reduce the risk of workers feeling ‘out of the loop’.

With so many confusing technology solutions on offer, small business managers can easily be tempted into buying a host of separate devices that don’t work together, and in some cases, aren’t needed. Before investing in anything, it’s important managers understand their business’ mobility needs. Small businesses need to be able to tailor and adapt their mobile solutions to their changing business requirements.

There are cost benefits too. Research shows that a third of the UK’s small business employees use their mobiles in preference to their landlines, equating to 70% of the average business call bill. Using smartphones which automatically route calls over the internet, for free, when in range of a wireless broadband network can reduce this. Software also exists that helps businesses to analyse their call and data spend and identify areas where cost savings can be made. Finally, consolidating broadband, landline and mobile phone services into one service and one bill can save time and money.

Businesses must consider how their productivity or customer service could be enhanced with a seamless IT and comms infrastructure and also the opportunity cost of failing to meet the expectations of being connected and available to clients, customers or colleagues. Viewed from this perspective, the costs of mobile technology are almost always far outweighed by the benefits of being able to work effectively on the move.

For more on how to negotiate the issues in migrating to mobile working, BT Business has published a helpful guide, ‘Understanding… the business benefits of mobile technology’ and has developed an innovative online ‘Mobility Matters’ calculator.  Both are downloadable at http://www.insight.bt.com/articles/Mobility-Costs.

Charlotte Anderson, GM, BT Business Mobility