Recent research, conducted on behalf of Vodafone across a range of businesses, has shown that one fifth of British workers believe the way their own business runs its communications is preventing them from carrying out their job properly.

For workers out in the field this is particularly important as the ability to work wherever they need to could improve their productivity enabling them to communicate in the way that best suits them and the job that they do.

However, it also applies to workers who do have a desk in an office, with 23% saying they do not spend most of their time sat at it.

SmartPhones are the most desirable communication tools, with 31% of those surveyed saying it would enable them to carry out their job more effectively. 37% said they currently have no access to flexible communication tools.

The conclusion of the survey was very much that businesses should take an individual approach to their employees communications, tailoring the tools available directly to the job they do. Whilst a flexible communications policy does throw up security issues, these can usually be addressed without too much trouble.

The research is clear evidence that increased productivity can be gained by strengthening employee collaboration and customer interaction. Better communications technology will also help organisations attract the best employees and improve staff retention.

For many businesses, particularly small businesses, the costs of implementing better communications could be perceived to be high. However, in reality SmartPhones are now available cheaply on a range of small business tariffs.

Even small changes to the type of handsets available to staff, offering enhanced communication features, will make a difference to their ability to get the job done whilst away from the office.

There are also SmartPhone based employee management solutions which allow you to keep track of where your staff are at any given time allowing you to make better decisions based on real-time data and therefore reduce costs and improve productivity.

For total communication solutions, integrated with your existing telecoms, contact us on 0115 944 8977.

Security of business data is paramount. However the increasing use of remote working by employees using their own devices poses a very real threat to business users. With an increase in the use of cloud computing too the lack of control a business has over this data transfer could leave it vulnerable.

By providing business mobiles to your employees you gain control of their usage and can implement security on each handset to ensure that your company data is secure should the handset be lost or stolen.

With proper policies being applied you can ensure your bills are not too high and that there is minimal personal usage outside of working hours. We can assist you with a tariff that provides you with the necessary minutes, texts and data to improve your communications.

Business mobiles can also be used for other purposes - for instance to keep track of your employees. An employee management system via mobile phone can improve your services and save you money. Read our mobile phone tracking page for more information. 

Whilst providing business mobile phones might seem like an additional expense a small business can do without there are many good reasons for a business to utilise them to their maximum extent. Read our Top 10 reasons for business mobile phones article for more information.

Technology moves on apace and no area is moving faster than mobile phones. With the continuing rise in sales of SmartPhones, including GPS and always-on connectivity, the possibility to provide location-based services combined with mobile phone payment will be here soon.

This will allow you to receive information, offers and discounts on products and services based on your location. You might be walking along the high street nearing a large retail store and suddenly your phone beeps and a discount voucher appears on your screen. You visit the retailer, swipe your voucher to receive your discount, and swipe again to pay for your goods.

This will undoubtedly make life easier, particularly in paying for small items when you don't have any cash in your pocket. However the temptation to overspend will definitely be there for some. Also a lot of small impulse purchases can soon add up to a tidy sum at the end of the month.

It is also be possible to use your phone as a shopping assistant, taking a photo of an item in a shop and using an app to find info about it and get the best price. Apps could also be involved in money transfer between phones, so you could see car boot sales where the goods are bought by a shake of a couple of mobile phones and the money transferred from buyer to seller.

The security of the mobile payments will need to be excellent and combined with transaction limits to limit spending if people are going to adopt this technology. But any minor objections from people are likely to be overcome and many of the iPhone generation are going to want to get involved with this straight away.

They are the same people who will be using the new features on social networking sites which will enable you to see where your friends are and broadcast your location to your friends to meet up. The issue of privacy here is paramount but not insurmountable. There may be plenty of people who you don't want to know where you are!

Business applications for location tracking are already in use by many businesses who use device tracking systems to keep track of vehicles and employees during working hours. This enables the business to make savings and efficiencies and the systems can pay for themselves within a relatively short space of time.

With mobile phones becoming more like computers, offering storage for documents, personal and work data, the need to keep this data safe for business mobile users is paramount.

Most phones offer a PIN code security system. This locks all of the data but leaves the phone enabled to make emergency calls. The pin code is usually 4-8 digits. In common with your bank pin code you should make it memorable, not make it easily guessable and should not write it down and keep it with the phone!

If for any reason you enter an incorrect pin code three consecutive times the phone and/or sim card will be locked and you will be unable to use the phone or access its data. To reactivate the phone you need to know the PUC code (Pin Unlock Code). This is also known as the PUK code (Pin Unlock Key).

Should you enter the pin code wrongly 10 times in succession you will permanently lock your phone and need a new sim card, for which the network will charge you.

For O2 users the PUK code can be obtained from their website. Find an O2 PUK code. For all other networks you will have to get in touch with their customer service departments by phone (not easy if you only have your mobile with you and you've just locked it!).

As well as PIN protection SmartPhone users can download software apps that offer password protected storage facilities for all of their contacts and data. There are also apps for the safe and secure back-up of mobile phone data in the event of a lost/stolen/damaged phone.

By using a cloud storage facility and keeping your data safely online, it can be retrieved easily and downloaded to your new phone in the event of any problems.