Nearly a third of Canadian businesses are failing to invest in mobile technology to improve their operations, a new study has found.
In fact, according to a survey commissioned by Mississauga, Ont.-based Internet of Things (IoT) service provider and enterprise mobility management firm SOTI Inc. and released Thursday, employees are more likely than management to recognize the benefits of embracing mobile technology: 52 per cent of Canadian respondents said that what SOTI called “mobile downtime” seriously hinders their ability to work, while only 51 per cent of Canadian CEOs reported caring about business mobility in those situations.
Globally, the results weren’t much better: 70 per cent of CEOs within transportation and logistics companies, for example, failed to recognize the importance of rugged handheld devices in the field, SOTI found.
In a July 6 statement, SOTI founder and CEO Carl Rodrigues said he believes CEOs are risking of obsolescence by not embracing mobile innovation.
“Many organizations are using mobility for the basics, but do not know how to implement the next level of mobile integration to transform their workforce,” he said. “It’s very much a sink or swim time for businesses. Ignoring the endless possibilities innovation brings could prove disastrous for organizations who fail to jump on board.”
Carried out on SOTI’s behalf by U.K.-based Arlington Research, the study interviewed 1300 individuals from organizations with more than 50 employees – 200 each from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the U.K. and the U.S., and 100 from Sweden. All respondents used a smart device for work, and had used their device to work remotely at least once.
Other Canadian insights from the study include:
- 47 per cent of Canadian employees believe that although their organization has the ability to block unsanctioned apps, they chose not to enforce it;
- 33 per cent said their organization had no strict rules about downloading unsanctioned apps onto work devices;
- 35 per cent said their organization blocks unsanctioned apps;
- 25 per cent are worried about losing their job should something goes wrong with the device they’re using;
- 56 per cent worry about losing important information;
- 46 per cent worry losing information would have a negative impact on their customer relationships.
A summary of the report can be found here, or you can check out SOTI’s infographic based on the global results below (click for a larger version).
