Initially conceived as a technology for personal communication the iPhone is now being completely submerged, integrated and utilised within todays fast pace business environments and the trend is one which is set to continue.
The iPhone offers great promise of mobility for businesses with the ability to drive efficiencies, increase convenience and employee flexibility. These factors ultimately bear relevance to the competitiveness and profitability of a business.
A survey carried out by Logmeln found that nearly a quarter of SME employees work off-site at least once a week and about 12 percent of them work virtually. More than half of SMEs surveyed plan to increase their use of remote access services over the next six months.
With SMEs accounting for 59% of the UK workforce, and over 50% of them, according to a study carried out by Interactive Intelligence, actively encouraging and supporting remote working the outlook is apparent.
The iPhone is becoming more popular as a result as it provides a great way to boost their off-site productivity, allowing them to check emails, access calendars and make calls when on the move.
Sybase Inc., an industry leader in enterprise and mobile software recently announced the results of a survey carried out in the US which demonstrates that the demand for iPhone in the workplace is on the rise.
Apple is intending to introduce a number of new features intended to improve the functionality of iPhone for business. More than a third said they would consider purchasing an iPhone for work even if not provided by their employer.
The ability to multi-task is the most anticipated feature and almost half of those surveyed also think that video conferencing will be of key importance in building stronger client and colleague relationships.
"It's the paradigm shift from 'cell phone' to 'computer in your pocket.' It's all about the software and apps," said Gene Munster, senior research analyst with Piper Jaffray, in an interview with TechNewsDaily.
The iPhone has made some great progress in terms of entering the long exclusive territory of the Blackberry. It is now entirely compatible with Microsoft Exchange, hard drives can be encrypted and secured and phones can be imaged so the same phone is rolled out to the entire workforce.
It is currently estimated that 40% of all new iPhones are being sold to businesses for such use.
The Apple application store is what truly differentiates it from the Blackberry. Companies are now utilising the platform and offering their own applications on the iPhone to further differentiate their own offerings and also to ensure that they continue to meet the evident changing needs of their customers.
Research carried out by Strategy Analytics shows that organisations that leverage the iPhone are in fact reaping greater benefits from mobility than organizations that do not have iPhones.
The conclusion…
iPhone for business is the way forward and businesses both large and small would be unwise to ignore the trend and neglect to take advantage of the technology and the unprecedented benefits it has and is likely to continue to afford.
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