Benefits of Smartphones

According to Tony Bradley (2010), during the last decade, smartphones have changed from basic cell phones to palm-sized computers. This has impacted many businesses in different ways. Some have improved their productivity level because employees can now go more places more efficiently; however, there are a few burdens that come with the use of smartphones such as the security risks of having sensitive information on these mobile devices.

A recent survey by RingCentral (2010) shows how attached business professionals have become with their smartphones.

* Smartphones and intimate relationships tied at 40% for being the number one thing respondents cannot live without.

* 79% of respondents use the Smartphone the most to conduct business, as compared to an office phone or home phone.

* Smartphones are also an influence on computers, with 34& of respondents using the Smartphone more than the computer for business. In fact, 7% don't even take their laptop when they travel for business if they have their Smartphone.

* 48% of the survey respondents reported that two-thirds of their phone communications are via a Smartphone. Also 79% reported that they use the Smartphone as their primary business phone.

Research in Motion (RIM) has been successful in its development of the BlackBerry smartphones as the most effective mobile communications device for business professionals. The BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) is a key component in RIM's success. BES allows enterprise IT departments to control mobile messaging systems internally which cuts back on security breaches for sensitive information. This system gives IT management team access to remote information and can easily wipe any device from any location. (Tony Bradley, 2010)

According to Melanie Pinola these are the top five business apps: Office Suite: Documents to Go, Note-Taking / Data Capture: Evernote, To Do: Remember the Milk, Communicating with Others: Skype, and File Syncing: SugarSync. In my opinion, Skype would be the most useful. Skype is a program that provides free video calling, Skype-to-Skype voice calling, instant messaging, texting, and voicemail online (Melanie Pinola). It is great for business professionals that spend a lot of time traveling from place to place because they can have video conference meetings with an entire company or simply a one on one meeting with your boss and other employees. There is a Skype mobile app for just about every smartphone available. This makes communication a lot simpler for larger companies.

There are many benefits of Smartphones, some include keeping you organised, flexible working, information at your fingertips, never out of touch, better information sharing, greater functionality, and faster communication (Crown Copyright. URN 04/655;04/04). Any sort of management position would benefit