Tablets and the Workplace Productivity Payoff

The recently conducted 2014 International Tablet Survey of IT Decision Makers concluded that tablet adoption by Enterprises has resulted in increased user productivity and enhanced customer service. This survey polled 1,169 IT Decision Makers (ITDM’s) across 10 countries with the intention of understanding the benefits of tablet usage in the workplace. The research revealed that apart from the obvious productivity benefit, tablet adoption helped employees’ access information more conveniently and reduced work duplication by allowing real time information entry.

Some of the highlights of the survey were as follows:

• 9 out of 10 ITDM’s revealed that tablets, if not already a part of the standard IT offering, are under consideration
• More than half of the Enterprises in Russia, India, China and US allow employees to use self- purchased tablets
• Some companies in India, China and US also make provisions for employees to purchase tablets with the help of company funds
• Majority of employees favor tablet adoption in the workplace
• Companies adopting Tablets in France noted a 10% increase in productivity while India and Brazil saw an approximate 25% productivity increase

However, the report also brought to light some of the key issues that companies faced with tablet adoption. One of the main concerns for enterprises staying away from Tablet adoption was that of security such as theft or loss of devices leading to data loss. Insufficient storage capacity, breach of company policies and compliance and regulatory issues were some of the other top issues for ITDM’s.

In order to promote BYOD and enterprise mobility, organizations need to look at tablet encryption and have a strong policy management in place. Additionally they also have to view and identify workable data protection methods.

The way people work and want to work is changing very fast. With technological advancements, employees are looking at anytime, anywhere information access and in order to become the workplace of the future, Enterprises are left with no other choice but to facilitate mobility.