The results of a survey conducted by Sage North America showed this is the case despite perceived value.
Sage North America has revealed the results of its most recent Sage SMB Survey on Mobile Devices, which included findings on a number of different industries and sectors that see potential value in mobile technology, but that do not set an annual budget to meet those needs.
Among the sectors included in this survey were food and beverage, manufacturing and distribution, and construction.
Those specific industry sectors felt that mobile technology could be overwhelmingly positive in terms of the impact that it has on business, but the vast majority of companies in these areas only purchase solutions in this category as the need arises, instead of setting an annual budget for this tech. According to the Sage North America executive vice president and general manager of mid-market solutions, Joe Langner, “With more than 40 percent reporting that they have a BYOD (bring your own device) policy in place, employers in all three industries may not see the need to budget for mobile since BYOD helps ensure that expenses are relatively small.”
At the same time the survey results still suggested that it is worthwhile for companies to plan for mobile technology.
Langner stated that it is evident that businesses are seeing the gains in productivity, which indicates that regardless of whether the tech is used as a part of an official BYOD (bring your own device) policy or for a specific item, this type of planning is worthwhile.
In manufacturing and distribution, the survey showed that 74 percent of companies are not creating a budget for these devices or mobile apps. That said 51 percent of those companies do actually use mobile devices as they have perceived their benefits. Among those, 76 percent have at least one employee that uses a laptop, 74 percent has at least one employee that uses a smartphone, and 49 percent have at least one employee that uses a tablet.
In construction, 77 percent of companies said that smartphones provided a positive impact on the productivity of their organization, though under 14 percent had a budget for the hardware or software.
Food and beverage saw the most positive impact of mobile technology in their customer service (73 percent). Among the respondents, one pointed out that these devices help to “answer questions even when we are not in the office.”
