ANTenna Blog -- Mobile

Two separate reports show that small and midsize companies are increasingly mobile. And with that mobility comes a reliance on laptops, netbooks, and smartphones.

A new report by ABI Research has found that the number of mobile small and midsize businesses in the world will pass 200 million by the end of the year. Another report, by Access Markets International (AMI)-Partners, confirms that smaller companies are becoming increasingly mobile.

Other findings from the reports conclude that:

• The amount of travel by small and midsize mobile businesses has increased -- domestic travel has nearly doubled, and international travel has increased fivefold.
• Nearly half of businesses with up to 99 employees and nearly nine in 10 businesses with 100 to 999 employees have workers who travel at least four days per month for business.
• Small and midsize businesses have not adopted 802.11 network solutions to a great degree.
• Many smaller companies are increasingly replacing older desktop PCs with laptops and netbooks as well as cell phones with smartphones.
• Smaller companies purchase equipment based on operating cash flow, not capital funds.

These findings are interesting, considering just a couple of months ago, telecommuting and teleconferencing were found to be on the rise, owing to higher fuel prices. But the AMI and ABI reports focused on mobile companies -- perhaps these businesses have realized that it pays, both financially and environmentally, to invest less in office space and more on flexible technology.

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