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Smartphones on the rise in business

Sep 03 2010

Smartphone use in businesses has risen

The use of smartphones by small businesses has more than doubled in the past three years, research finds.

According to the Open University Business School’s quarterly survey of 833 small and medium enterprises (SMEs), almost half of UK small businesses report that at least one person in their company uses a smartphone for business purposes, up from 23 per cent in 2007.

Small firms in transport (60 per cent), manufacturing (59 per cent) and business services (56 per cent) are the biggest smartphone users.

Just 17 per cent of companies with a turnover of less than £50,000 report smartphone users in their companies, compared to 73 per cent of businesses with turnovers exceeding £1 million.

Colin Gray, professor of enterprise development at the Open University Business School says: ‘The rise of smartphones in small businesses is a classic case of the consumer adoption curve. Business people have a lot of time pressures and these devices help to relieve them.’

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