Greater use of devices at work means strained networks - report

Greater use of devices at work means strained networks - report

A new report from US-based mobility services provider, iPass, has discovered that as mobile use increases in the office, network satisfaction declines.

The organisation’s Mobile Workforce Report found that "mobile Darwinism" is taking place, in that the use of emerging technologies and the consumption of data is moving faster than networks are able to cope with in most work places. This has led to a 25 per cent drop in the satisfaction with mobile networks.

The report found that as more devices are being used for more purposes, including for social media interaction, and data consumption, only half of users are satisfied with their data coverage, while two-thirds are not satisfied with the speed of their network.

The report also found that the average employee working in the telecoms industry takes 3.5 devices to work, and 64 per cent has a tablet device. This is up from 2.7 devices in 2007, showing the fast proliferation of the use of the mobile device in the office. For around 61 per cent of their day most business mobile device users are within range of Wi-Fi.

iPass's chief executive officer, Barbara Nelson, explained the network problems being faced, "Mobile employees are seeing a significant reduction in service levels due to the rapid rise of data consumption."

She added that upgrading a business network might be necessary to cope with the new demand on data usage: "An enterprise's adaptation strategy should include investing in better management tools to monitor usage, upgrading infrastructure to address the new capacity requirements, licensing outside network services and requiring employees to use inexpensive and secure Wi-Fi connections when possible."

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