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Upwardly Mobile
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A new survey highlights that the UK public sector is leading the field when it comes to mobile technology deployment.
In contrast to some of the criticism which has surrounded public sector adoption of e-government, the research reveals that public sector is leading enterprise wireless deployment, with some of the highest technology adoption rates, high levels of senior management focus and is initiating best practice in terms of integration into wider IT strategy.
The survey, the most extensive undertaken into UK enterprise mobility, researched 600 UK enterprises across a variety of vertical sectors to provide an overview on current enterprise mobility roll out.
The survey reveals that the UK public sector is rolling out or has completed more successful wireless projects than any other industry. For example, 70% of the public sector is currently going through pilot mobile projects testing PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) & handheld computers, or has completed the roll out of this technology. In addition, 42% of the public sector organisations questioned are currently running or considering running smartphone implementation projects.
In comparison to other industries, such as professional services, the public sector is far more sophisticated in its deployment of mobile technology, with senior level buy-in and wider integration into IT strategy resulting in successful projects. The research reveals that whilst nearly 50% of public sector organisations have a dedicated IT strategy to include mobile, only a third of other industries are similarly prepared.
High levels of mobile project success within the public sector are attributed in the research to tight management of purchasing decisions and centralised administration - ultimately leading to greater business benefits. According to the independent research, the public sector has the most centralised administration of mobile technology purchasing with over two thirds of its mobile spending now centrally managed and controlled by the IT department. This compares to other sectors such as IT, where as many as 52% of IT purchasing happens outside the IT department.
Hugh Griffiths, head of Data Products & Services at O2, which commissioned the report, comments: "There is a lot that UK business can learn from the public sector when it comes to mobile data adoption. The successful mobile data deployments we have seen from the companies we have surveyed, along with O2's own customer base such as Westminster City Council and the London Borough of Lewisham, aren't by chance.
"These are serious wireless deployments which are focused on transforming core business processes and are central to the strategic growth and development of these organisation. Common criteria for success include the fact that all are sanctioned at a senior level within the organisation, they are all supported by a centralised managed IT department and focused on delivering a quantifiable return on investment - be this financial costs savings or transforming the quality of service that can be delivered to customers and suppliers alike."
Case Studies
1: The London Borough of Lewisham, which manages and maintains 30,000 public sector homes on behalf of its customers, is now using XDAs (a combined PDA and mobile phone handset) to provide a cost-effective means of running its mobile workforce of plumbers, joiners and other maintenance staff. As a result of this wireless strategy, the Borough is making an overall saving of ?60,000 a year across the whole workforce, including an annual saving of approximately ?5,500 in employee fuel costs and a further ?6,000 through the reduction of paperwork and printing.
2: Westminster City Council's field-based Street Environmental Managers (SEMs) and Noise Officers are now collecting and accessing data through hand-held computers connected over a wireless data network. In practice, this means that the SEMs can record all types of environmental hazards, such as records of litter complaints for a particular address, when and where they occur, and alert waste management contractors to effect a rapid clean-up.
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