New data shows global increase in mobility problems frontline workers experience monthly which negatively impact their work and their company

ATLANTA, USA, ABINGDON, ENGLAND – November 09, 2020 – As COVID-19 continues to impact countries across the globe, the pressure on frontline enterprise workers has never been more acute. Yet despite 87% of IT admitting to having some tools in place to proactively monitor and manage their critical IT infrastructure, two thirds of frontline workers experience mobile issues each month which negatively impact their ability to do their jobs – a rise of 16% from last year.

In September 2020, B2M Solutions commissioned a trusted independent market research company to survey over 1,505 companies across the United States, Canada and Europe as part of its 3rd Annual State of Enterprise Mobility Survey. The survey found that of all the mobile issues reported, the following rank as the most prevalent monthly issues:

• Poor or unstable WiFi or mobile coverage experienced by 70% of workers
• Almost two-thirds (63%) flagged that device batteries drain very quickly and do not last an entire shift
• 62% reported the mobile apps they use often crash
• Almost half (44%) cited that their device reboots itself for no apparent reason

However these stats are only the tip of the iceberg as 85% of monthly mobile issues go unreported to IT (up from 80% last year). Almost half of IT managers (48%) also admitted to an increase in the number of worker-reported issues over the last 12-18 months .

With COVID-19 forecast to plunge the global economy into the deepest recession since the Second World War, the spotlight on the impact these issues are having on company financials has never been more acute:

• Lost Worker Productivity – IT Workers reported a loss in productivity with 88% of IT reporting that it takes 30 minutes or longer to resolve mobile issues – time which could be used to service customers
• Increased costs – 58% report that mobile issues cost their companies unnecessary costs.  In fact the total costs related to these issues over 5 years are likely 80% or higher of the enterprise’s Total Cost of Ownership of mobile devices.  The survey notes increased costs from IT related to a high % of unnecessary swapping of healthy batteries and devices in an attempt to quickly resolve workers’ mobility issues.
• Increased stress – 61% of workers feel stress when their job can’t be done due to mobile issues. To compound this, 44% face anger and rudeness if mobile issues impact their ability to service customers effectively.  As noted in the survey, workers report this level of stress often manifests in time off work / sick time
• Lost revenue – 41% of companies reported lost revenue due to mobile device issues and downtime
• Lost customers – with two-thirds of workers having at least one issue per month with their mobile device and each device on average taking 30 minutes to fix, it is no wonder that over a third (35%) of companies surveyed have reported lost customers

“Despite the enterprise’s growing reliance on mobile devices and applications, the number of mobile issues affecting a workers’ ability to do their job is on the rise.  These issues are increasing costs to an enterprise – not only in terms of wasted hardware but more importantly in terms of lost productivity, lost revenue and lost customers. With the total costs related to these issues over 5 years forecast to be 80% or higher of the enterprise’s True Cost of OwnershipTM of mobile devices, now is the time to act” commented Gary Lee, Chief Revenue Officer of B2M Solutions.

He added: “Despite 97% of companies in our survey having a device management tool like MDM / EMM in place to manage mobility, only 2% of these companies state these tools allow them to proactively manage and control these critical issues.  Clearly there is a need for better solutions which provide more detailed analytics alongside real-time visibility. Proactively spotting and fixing problems, and in some cases even predicting them, is the key to empowering frontline workers and IT teams with the tools they need to keep mobility up and running. Without them we risk more disruption, lengthier down time, poorer customer service and higher costs – all of which companies can ill afford as we look to a more positive pathway into 2021.”