How are small businesses handling Mobile Devices?  We know that business owners rely on their mobile technology more than ever, because we see these trends when we review the types of calls received by our Help Desk. When NSI TotalCare added its robust service offering designed specifically for Mobile Devices, it was in response to feedback and requests of our clients, who expressed a need for this kind of support. Policies, management, security, data backup and best practices alone are a lot for a business owner to handle, not to mention the variety of user issues, questions, and continued operating system upgrades required to keep each device up to speed. 

How are your employees using their mobile devices?

In a previous post entitled “What is a Help Desk”, we touched on how our own staff relies on their mobile technology and our technical expertise when it comes to issues receiving email on their smartphones.  Sending and receiving email, calendar reminders, tasks and to-do’s… with apps like Evernote we have become increasingly reliant on mobile technology. 

Review of Survey Results – What trends are we seeing?

An in depth report published in March of 2013 drills down into many issues small business owners face when it comes to managing, deploying or allowing mobile devices in the workplace.  Here, we will touch on some highlights; there is a link to download the full report, below.

Respondents of the survey reported:

57% use a tablet to access work-related information

31% have no policy in place for Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in place

11% are currently running Windows 8 on their computers, 4.5% have Windows 8 on their smartphones

50% use a smartphone to access banking, 23% access and Accounting or ERP system from their mobile device (read, “5 Steps to Smartphone Security”)

One of the findings reinforces what many marketing experts are advising we do when it comes to websites, blogs and emails:  Be Mobile Friendly.  94% of respondents use their device for email, and most email messages have links to websites, blogs, and/or a variety of ways for a customer to make contact such as “click to call” or web forms.  If your signature includes a link to your website, can the recipient view the site easily on their mobile device?  The experts are saying this should be a high priority.  The data in this report certainly backs that up.

Are you reading this on a mobile device?  Please leave a comment and let us know!