INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Mobile Technology
Avaya survey reveals UAE office workers
believe mobile communications will
boost productivity
UAE office workers are increasingly
looking to mobile communications
solutions to collaborate and
communicate more efficiently,
according to research commissioned
by Avaya.
More than half of employees would
prioritise a calling-and-data package
on their mobile, while mobile access to
e-mail is more desirable than internal
calling and voice mail access, according
to the Technology@Work Report,
conducted by YouGov.
The report, which surveyed over 500
employees in the UAE and more
than 3,000 worldwide, showed that
55 per cent of UAE workers wanted
independent access to calling and data
packages, with half wanting mobile
e-mail access.
That compares to just 37 per cent who
expressed a desire for internal calls and
voice-mail access – the same number
that wanted remote access to file
servers and databases.
Examining the benefits of a
technology-assisted work environment,
the ability to be more productive
was the most cited benefit by UAE
employees, with 58 per cent believing
this to be the case.
UAE workers are also pioneers in video
conferencing, being more likely than
the global average to use video to
collaborate with colleagues, partners
and customers.
The report comes as unprecedented
efforts are being made by the UAE
government and the private sector
to facilitate digital transformation
programs that benefit citizens and spur
economic growth.
Vice President and Prime Minister
of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His
www.intelligentcio.com
Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum, has recently
underlined the importance of raising
government efficiency in delivering
services to the public.
Digital transformation could
generate US$16.9 billion in extra
revenue each year for companies in
the Middle East from 2017 to 2021,
as well as US$17.3 billion in annual
cost savings and efficiency gains,
according to PwC.
While most UAE employees were
satisfied with the collaboration and
communications solutions available
to them, more than one in five
said they didn’t have access to the
right tools, with mobile packages
and mobile access to e-mails again
leading demand.
Almost half, 44 per cent of
respondents, said that their ideal
technology environment would build
communication and collaboration
abilities into existing enterprise
applications, such as a click-to-call
facility in e-mail, or being able to join
conference calls through their calendars.
The report showed that employees
are also willing to use collaboration
solutions outside their IT
departments’ control, with 59
per cent of UAE employees using
WhatsApp or WeChat groups without
management knowledge, exposing
companies to security risks.
“Digital transformation’s key objective
is speed and agility to an enterprise’s
culture. This is a new perception of
technology adoption; how to facilitate
highly mobile, dynamic teams to
collaborate with each other virtually
and still deliver a closed meeting-room
experience,” says Savio Tovar Diaz,
director of Sales Engineering at Avaya,
Asia, MEA and Turkey.
“Very often the collaboration and
communication capabilities of
employees are limited to basic
connectivity solutions. At Avaya, our
vision is to bring not only people
together, but the applications and
things with context to collaborate.
In the new world, although people-
to-people communications are
predominant, machine-to-machine
communications is rapidly growing.
“We therefore strive to bring people,
applications and things together with
the right information at the right time in
the right context, helping employees to
improve efficiency and quickly address
critical business challenges.”
In the UAE, leading enterprises such as
Dubai Civil Defence and Emirates NBD
have successfully embraced these new
technologies to transform employee
communication and collaboration
together with Avaya. ¡
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