69 percent of workers consider mobile technology essential to their jobs effectively

Mobile phones increased the productivity of workers by nearly one percent in 2004, adding about £9bn to the UK economy, according to a report from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR).

The report, commissioned by carrier O2, says mobile phones enabled staff to save about 20 minutes per day. However, the research also found that benefits were largely concentrated in the hands of two million mobile knowledge workers. These tend to be professionals who make heavy use of mobiles to keep in touch with customers and colleagues while travelling.

Unsurprisingly, use of mobile communications is growing. The mobile sector accounted for 42 percent of business communications investment in 2004, up from 27 percent in 2000, according to the report. “The CEBR analysis confirms the increasing role that mobiles play in UK business life at every level,” said O2 chief executive Peter Erskine. “Mobiles are already having a positive effect, but further substantial benefits can be achieved from the increasingly sophisticated data services on offer.”

The report says mobile workers now represent 27 percent of the total UK workforce, and 69 percent of workers consider mobile technology essential to carry out their jobs effectively.

CEBR defines a mobile worker as someone who spends more than a third of their working day outside the office. Under this definition, two thirds of the mobile workers in the UK are represented by blue-collar occupations, conflicting with the stereotype of mobile workers as BlackBerry-wielding executives.