Technology Helps Workers Do "More with Less:" It Has To

Nearly one in two Americans (48 percent) who use technology in their everyday jobs say that they are now required to do more work with fewer resources due to the current economic climate. As an example, nearly one third (30 percent) feel that they need to stay connected to work 24/7, even during weekends, breaks or holidays, according to a new survey by Intercall.

That is likely one reason why the United States has the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce, according to February 2010 data from IDC, with 75.5 percent of the workforce, or 119.7 million people, expected to be mobile by 2013.

And 79 percent of them plan on taking their work-related devices with them on vacation, according to  Osterman Research.

Fully 72 percent say that advanced technology, such as conferencing and collaboration tools, enables them to work faster, better and improves their morale – because they see the company providing them with the right resources and tools to "do more with less," according to Intercall.

One in two American workers (48 percent) report being constantly required to do more with less, while 39 percent report that they’ve been doing the job of two people because of the impact of the economic recession, Intercall reports. The issue, of course, is if, when and how that will change in the future.

One in two workers say that taking time off of work is increasingly challenging, while one in three
workers say that they feel like they need to stay connected to their work 24/7.

The Intercall survey was conducted online among a national sample of 2500 Americans 18+.

Interall survey results here

see related article here

Conferencing Now Part of UC, Study Finds

UC is often thought of as a broad solution set including a unified directory, unified messaging, a single number (find me, follow me), presence awareness and the ability to track all forms of communication, say Josie Sephton and Dale Vile, Freeform Dynamics researchers.

What seems to have changed lately is the increased role conferencing solutions seem to be playing as parts of an integrated UC solution. Among lead adopters, audio conferencing is viewed as a mandatory feature by more than 70 percent of information technology executives surveyed by Freeform Dynamics.

More than 40 percent of all respondents said that audio conferencing is mandatory (Click on image to see larger view).

Nearly 20 percent of the most-aggressive UC adopters say video calling is mandatory, while more than 65 percent say that features is "desirable." So far, fewer than 10 percent of all respondents say video calling is mandatory.

About 25 percent of early UC adopters say video conferencing is a mandatory UC feature, and about 55 percent of early adopters say Web conferencing is a mandatory UC feature.

Instant messaging is seen by more than 80 percent of early adopters as a mandatory feature. Nearly 40 percent of all enterprise IT executives say IM is necessary.