Go Mobile, Gain Productivity

Can you continue to be productive in your government job without the help of mobile devices like laptops, smartphones and tablets? Nearly half of federal IT professionals don't think you can, according to a new survey.

The MeriTalk Mobile Powered Government study found that 49 percent of IT professionals doubt that federal agencies can be productive without PC alternatives such as laptops, smartphones and tablets. Fifty-one percent of IT professionals said not having these mobile devices could impair the government's ability to attract and retain top talent.

With government mandates like the 2010 Telework Enhancement Act and Federal CIO Steven VanRoekel's new federal mobility strategy, agencies are using more mobile devices. To meet the increasing demand for mobility, the federal workforce will need approximately 533,000 tablets and 355,000 smartphones in the next two years, the study found.

In addition, federal IT professionals said they expect tablet use to grow from 7 percent today to 19 percent and smartphone use to increase from 35 percent to 43 percent in 2013. If the addition of these mobile devices enables federal workers to be even 10 percent more productive, the federal government could add $2.6 billion in federal productivity by 2013, the study found.

Still, federal IT professionals said moving to mobile is not without challenges. Security risks (78 percent), IT staffing (43 percent), the diversity of devices and platforms (39 percent) and budget constraints (38 percent) were cited as the biggest challenges for federal mobile use.

The federal government can embrace other tools and technologies to help overcome these challenges, however, IT professionals noted. Identity management and access control were considered the most important tools to implement, followed by messaging and collaboration, mobile applications and desktop from the cloud.

But while some agencies have embraced tools like messaging and collaboration to increase productivity, not all tools are being widely used by federal employees, the study found. For example, 95 percent of agencies offer shared calendars, yet only 55 percent report that the calendars are available. Sixty-three percent of agencies are using or assessing the use of mobile applications, but only 17 percent of respondents said employees use agency-developed applications, the study found.