Global investigation shows CIOs how to create higher levels of productivity, creativity, satisfaction, and loyalty through properly executed mobile strategies
A new global study, “Mobility,
Performance and Engagement” by The Economist Intelligence
Unit (EIU) has established a measurable link between more mobile-first
working environments and an increase in employee engagement, proving
that CIOs can drive increased business performance through
well-developed and executed mobile strategies.
Sponsored by Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE:HPE), the
study showed that companies rated by employees as “pioneers” in how they
support mobile technology saw a rise in productivity (16%),
creativity (18%), satisfaction (23%), and loyalty (21%), when
compared to organizations that were poorly rated at supporting mobile
technology.
“Today, most companies and employees understand that a mobile-first
approach can be good for business, but if you can tell a CEO of a
Fortune 500 company that their organization can achieve a 16% increase
in employee output, or tell HR directors that they can increase loyalty
by over one-in-five, we believe they would make mobility an even greater
investment priority,” said Chris Kozup, Vice President of Marketing at
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company.
“While past studies have recognized the impact of increased mobility on
employee engagement, establishing the business outcome has been a
missing link. This report quantifies it,” he added.
The report, which surveyed 1,865 employees globally, demonstrates that
many workers recognize the benefits of mobile-optimized work
environments. In fact, six in ten (60%) employees said mobile
technology makes them more productive, while more than four in ten (45%)
believe it causes their creativity to rise.
The EIU’s analysis looked to define how the wide adoption of mobile
technology was impacting business outcomes by defining the key
dimensions of a mobile-first employee experience, then demonstrating how
each dimension contributes toward business performance. A number of key
trends stood out:
WORKING ANYTIME, ANYWHERE
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The ability to work anytime, anywhere is seen as having the
single-biggest impact on employee productivity, with 49% of
respondents saying it has the greatest impact on their productivity.
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Additionally, 38% of respondents identify this as having the
greatest impact on how satisfied they are with their employer.
“Think about downtime at the airport or on the train – there’s not much
dead time now,” said Kevin Melton, sales and marketing director at
medical insurance provider AXA PPP International. “You always have
access to an iPad, and especially in Asia, to Wi-Fi.”
THE ABILITY TO COLLABORATE
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Globally, the ability to collaborate effectively was rated the most
important factor affecting creativity (38%). Another one-third of
respondents said it has the greatest impact on their loyalty.
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To help foster better collaboration, 42% of companies are now using
digital collaboration tools that work on mobile – a figure that
rises to 56% in the UK. Mobile messaging apps, such as Whatsapp, are
also used for work by 31% of organizations, peaking at 66% in
Singapore.
“The opportunity and the challenge here is to marry employee demands for
remote working with team collaboration,” Kozup said. “The rise in mobile
collaboration tools presents new ways for businesses to keep teams
together and working effectively, even if they are physically apart.
It’s clear that companies who are able to do this are in a better place
to attract and retain the best employees.”
ACCESS TO MOBILE INFORMATION
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42% of employees say that the ability to access information
quickly and easily has the greatest impact on their productivity
levels.
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Currently, 54% of companies are providing access to the company
network from any mobile device to support working anywhere in the
office or remotely.
WORKPLACE FREEDOM
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For 32% of employees, being able to work anywhere within the
office is the biggest contributing factor to their creativity, meaning
a company can potentially gain more creative output just by offering
some choice. A further 29% declare that workplace flexibility makes
the biggest difference to their loyalty.
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To foster this freedom, the report finds that 46% of companies
are now offering a hot-desking environment with mobile connectivity at
any location, showcasing that more collaborative work environments are
on the rise. The UK offers the highest level of hot-desking (54%)
followed by Australia and Germany (both 53%).
"Work has to happen on people's own terms," said Holger Reisinger,
senior vice president, and head of the New Ways of Working Initiative at
audio technology company Jabra. "We need to offer as diverse a choice as
possible. You want it to be personal; to be more productive. The more
you try to control that, the more you risk people being turned off work."
MOBILE IS NOT JUST FOR MILLENNIALS
The EIU study found that a respondent’s age was not a factor in how
mobile technology impacts their performance and engagement. In fact, it
dispels the popular notion that mobile working is the domain of the
younger generation, making it even more critical for organizations to
place mobile technology as a top priority.
The distinctions were made between respondents who consider themselves
early adopters of technology – those whom Aruba defines as #GenMobile –
and those who consider themselves as laggards. Early adopters are
significantly more likely to report that mobile technology makes them
more productive (72% of this group agree with this statement, compared
to 50% of laggards), satisfied (59% versus 48%), creative (52% versus
40%), and loyal to their employer (44% versus 31%).
However, these #GenMobile respondents are also more demanding. 40% say
they would never work for a company that did not allow them to use their
own mobile devices for work, compared to 22% of all employees.
Said Kozup, “This reaffirms that #GenMobile employees are a demographic
not defined by age but who are better described by their reliance upon
and affinity for mobile devices, rather than the year they were born.
Not only are early adopters more valuable employees, the views they hold
today may well become the majority view in the future as mobile
technology becomes even more widespread. CIOs would therefore be well
advised to take note of and address their concerns.”
Pete Swabey, senior editor at The Economist Intelligence Unit concluded,
“This report proves that CIOs have the opportunity to use their mobile
technology strategies to influence the employee experience – and
therefore the productivity, creativity, loyalty and satisfaction of
their workers. This is a departure from the usual target outcomes of
efficiency and cost optimization, and allows IT to make a more
meaningful contribution, both to the strategic ambitions of the
organization and to the lives of its workers”.
To guide CIOs on how to think about mobile-first working in ways that
can positively impact revenue, Aruba has developed a CIO
blueprint for creating profitable mobile environments.
Additional Resources
About Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is a leading provider of
next-generation networking solutions for enterprises of all sizes
worldwide. The company delivers IT solutions that empower organizations
to serve the latest generation of mobile-savvy users who rely on
cloud-based business apps for every aspect of their work and personal
lives.
To learn more, visit Aruba at http://www.arubanetworks.com.
For real-time news updates follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook,
and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products
visit Airheads Social at http://community.arubanetworks.com.
©2016 Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, Aruba’s trademarks
include Aruba Networks®, Aruba The Mobile Edge Company® (stylized),
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InstantTM, ArubaOSTM,
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Aruba ClearPass Access Management SystemTM,
AirmeshTM, AirWaveTM,
Aruba CentralTM, and ARUBA@WORKTM.
All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Pavel Radda, +1-408-419-0294
Senior Director of Corporate Communications
pavel.radda@hpe.com
OR
LSH Communications for Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company
Lori Hultin, +1-818-879-4651
Principal
lori.hultin@hpe.com