Thomson Reuters Study on Mobile Device Usage
in Professional Services
Study Reveals Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in the professional services could be IT nightmare waiting to happen
- IT problems in the Professional Services rife from BYOD
- Few Firms have strategies in place to manage Tablet computers
- Senior partners leading the iPad charge yet 11% use them as status symbol
Tuesday 6 March 2012, Sydney, Australia - A new study by legal and tax publisher, Thomson Reuters, has revealed how the professional services* in Australia are using mobile devices. However, with practitioners adopting Tablets as status symbols with little IT strategy in place to cope with the technology, there could be a raft of problems on the horizon
More than 300** senior legal and tax practitioners were questioned in research in February 2012 commissioned to help Thomson Reuters understand exactly how professionals are using mobile technology in a work context as it launches its new ProViewT eReader app
The most popular mobile devices emerge as Smartphones (95%), Tablet computers such as iPads (67%) and mobile enterprise apps (23%). When it comes to Tablets, the vast majority of Firms (73%) say up to a quarter of staff used them, while a leading 13% claim that more than three-quarters of staff were users.
Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) emerges as a key trend, with 60% of practitioners using their own Tablets in a professional capacity. However, it appears this is not without its problems - more than half (51%) admitted having had technical problems as a result of this; 43% suffering security issues, 51% had network and connectivity issues, 46% internet access problems and 30% experienced issues around integrating with existing IT support infrastructure.
An alarmingly low proportion of Firms have an IT strategy in place to cover Tablet usage - just 10% - at the same time that 63% of professionals recognise a compelling need for one in their own Firm.
The research also examines exactly who in the professional services use Tablets. Despite their reputation as slow adopters, Managing Partners and Senior Managers emerge as the dominant group (61%) with IT and tech staff accounting for just 5% of Tablet users.
When asked about the reasons for using a Tablet, a surprising 11% admitt they use it purely as a status symbol, 14% have one, but never use it, while the majority (62%) say they use Tablets to work on the move, with 23% using them for eBooks.
Rick Ness, Chief Technology Officer of Thomson Reuters Legal, Tax & Accounting ANZ, comments: "We expect tablet usage to rise across all industry sectors but in particularly amongst the professional services, based on a number of factors including the ability to display eBooks, replacing the need to transport vast quantities of legal texts around from meeting to meeting.
"However, the trend for BYOD combined with a lack of strategy from an IT perspective could cause some real issues in the future. Tablet and mobile device usage will not go away and it's key that the professional services tackle this head on and recognize that a specific strategy is required to manage this. The risks of not doing this are far reaching; not only IT problems, but more importantly frustrated staff, wasted work hours and depressed productivity - exactly the issues technology should be solving."
*Study questioned 324 senior staff/partners across medium-large legal and accountancy firms in Australia
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, healthcare and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 55,000 people and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.
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INFOGRAPHIC: Mobile Device Usage in Professional Services in Australia