Mobile workers lack access to critical data

Access to business application limited to office workers, says research

Mobile workers are being denied access to business-critical data, according to a new study.

Access to business applications such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management through mobile devices is currently restricted to about a third of staff, according to research conducted on behalf of business intelligence vendor Information Builders.

However, 70 per cent of office-based staff are able to access those systems.

The research – based on interviews with IT decision makers at 700 firms worldwide – also highlighted a disparity in terms of who has access to up-to-date data.

Nearly three-quarters of firms said middle managers had timely access to data, but just two thirds of the senior executive team enjoy similar access and less than half of operational staff or support staff have such access.

Three quarters of firms acknowledged that making operational data more available would result in better decision making or improved business relationships.

Half of the firms polled said they planned to extend access via the use of smartphones and tablets.

But Peter Walker, UK country manager for Information Builders, argued that before pressing ahead with extending access, they need to improve data quality.

“Many times you see organisations running reports at the end of time periods and then reworking the results based on incorrect information on office based work,” he said. “When the data sources are plagued by quality problems, it generally requires manual massaging of information before it can be released for decision-making consumption. The wasted time of people doing this rework can be measured. The poor quality of decisions made cannot be measured.”