People use their Smartphones for far more than keeping in touch with family, friends and colleagues.
Recent research found while Smartphones get used for communicating, people also pull out their phone to surf, play and work. Leaders in many industries are overwhelmingly using Smartphones with email and web capabilities to stay in constant contact.
[/media-credit]
The blessing and curse of Smartphones is the ability to make and receive calls and texts, browse the Internet, receive emails and so much more, all from a tiny handheld device.
“My job is not a ‘clock in, clock out’ kind of job,” said David Grimsman, a lead trainer at Brainstorm Inc. at American Fork. “Even if I’m not in the office, others still expect to be able to reach me. I also travel quite a bit, and more often than not I need to read and respond to emails from places where I can’t necessarily open my laptop and seup an access point.”
Smartphones connectivity makes it difficult for people to disconnect themselves from work. According to a survey by The Zweig Letter of A/E industry, all respondents stated they had a Smartphone. The majority of respondents, 28.6 percent said they are always accessible, taking all calls and constantly checking emails regardless of the time or location. Near one quarter of respondents, 23.8 percent, said they check their phone more than once an hour during off time, 38.1 percent of respondents said they check once an hour or less, and 9.5 percent said they aren’t necessarily accessible during off hours.
Most firms provide Smartphones. A significant 85.7 percent of respondents replied affirmatively when asked if this was a practice in their firm, 9.5 percent said a Smartphone was not provided by work and 4.8 percent said they owned a Smartphone, but work paid the bill.
For many, a Smartphone is no longer a techno-toy but an essential tool for communicating at the pace business moves today.
“I wouldn’t say it’s essential, but it’s a huge benefit,” Grimsman said.
Despite most people having at least 40 applications on their phones, almost everyone in the study said they only handled one app at a time.
“Smartphones are changing the way people work, play and connect with people,” said Miguel Jaime, advisory staff memeber at Ernest & Young. “Connectivity also facilitates handling numerous national and international projects.”
According to the study, there are many reasons why people use a Smartphone today. Some wanted the device to keep connected with people, others wanted a tool to help them manage their life. Still others hoped a smartphone would enhance their productivity at work.
“The Smartphone keeps me communicated with work, I do most of my communicating via email, so having a Smartphone gives me the ability to work away from my computer,” said Kasey Yardley, sales manager at Brainstorm Inc.
Regardless of the reasons, everyone in the study ended up spending similar proportions of time using their phone to play, surf, work and communicate.
Smartphones are driving huge changes in the business industry, society and other aspects of life
“I can’t imagine myself doing my work without a smartphone,” Yardley said.
