Page 60 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

discovering a new workforce paradigm � 39

A study by market research firm IDC predicted that
164.7 million smartphones would be shipped worldwide
in 2009—a figure expected to reach 363.2 million in 2012.
Moreover, while 2007 saw 27 million phones with Wi-Fi ca-
pabilities, the service will reach 400 million by 2012.
Studies confirm that the traditional office hours of nine to
five in many cases are being replaced by greater flexibility
and choice of when and where employees begin and end
their workday. This results in strategic and bottom-line im-
provements to those companies.
There is mounting evidence that policies that support
flexible and mobile work strategies within the corporation
boost worker productivity, aid employee attraction and re-
tention, and reduce employee health-care costs. 12

In 2009 it was estimated there were around 4.6 billion mobile cel-
lular subscriptions worldwide. Compare that figure to the estimated
1.7 billion who were using the Internet at that time. The International
Telecommunications Union reports that there remains a “digital di-
vide” and developing countries are still far behind developed coun-
tries. Internet penetration, for example, in developing countries was
only 18 percent at the end of 2009, while it had reached 64 percent in
developed countries. 13
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Advantages to Going Global
Teams that communicate over time zones and geographical
distance can get their company’s products and services to
the marketplace cheaper, faster, and on time, and they can
get better customer service ratings.