According to a recent survey of 1,200 mobile professionals, conducted by mobile and wireless research consultancy iGR, Inc. and commissioned by Quickoffice, Inc., mobile business professionals who travel with handheld devices are suffering from “laptop lag”, impeding their productivity and efficiency. “Laptop lag” is defined as the time between when people receive emails with Microsoft Office and other critical documents on their handhelds, and when they’re able to access a computer to view and make quick but important edits to those documents.
The survey results indicate that nearly 97% need frequent access to email or corporate documents when away from their desk. For this study, mobile professionals are defined as those spending at least 20% of their time away from their offices.
With powerful mobile office software, mobile workers would not have to locate or “boot up” a computer for viewing or revising documents, eliminating the need for a laptop to maintain productivity while outside their offices. Roughly 70% of responders experienced an urgent need to view or edit email attachments while away from the office at least once a week, and nearly 58% said the ability to view and edit attachments while away from the office would increase their use of mobile email. In addition, over 63% of those surveyed think the ability to view email attachments on their mobile device is important or extremely important.
According to Frost & Sullivan, there are 55 million mobile workers in North America, which translates into approximately 45% of the total workforce. In addition, research firm Telephia’s recent mobile device census reports more than 34.6 million US mobile subscribers accessed the Internet via their wireless devices during June 2006. These statistics suggest mobile workers are a growing population, and emerging technologies are playing an increasing role in keeping them connected and productive while on-the-go.