Cellular coverage and reception at work is as important to mobile service customers as coverage at home: up to 74 percent of participants in a study conducted by YouGov and commissioned by SpiderCloud Wireless indicated a willingness “to switch mobile operators to get better coverage at the office.”
Thirty-eight percent of consumers surveyed said they would switch mobile operators in order to get better cell coverage and reception at work. Another 36 percent “were on the fence,” according to SpiderCloud Wireless, a provider “of scalable small cell Enterprise Radio Access Network (E-RAN) systems.”
“Both consumers and IT decision makers share the common pain point when faced with poor cellular coverage at work. Today’s workforce is a mobile connected workforce,” SpiderCloud Wireless CMO Ronny Haraldsvik was quoted as saying. “The YouGov research findings from 2014 and 2013 show consistent feedback: reliable mobile coverage and capacity indoors is a critical need for today’s enterprise customers.”
The survey also revealed that 40 percent of 1,004 U.S. consumers who use their personal mobile phones for work purposes “would be happier and more productive if indoor cellular coverage was improved.” Furthermore, 56 percent said they would be glad to use their own mobile device for work purposes if their employer guaranteed they would not be billed for business usage while on work sites.
Work Influences Wireless Churn Rates
Zooming in on survey respondents working at larger enterprises with 500 or more employees, the researchers found that 32 percent would be willing to switch mobile service providers for better service. One-third were undecided.
Sixty percent said “they would be happy to use their mobile device for work purposes if they were not billed for mobile usage while inside the office.”
The researchers also highlighted generational differences associated with mobile usage, happiness and productivity. Thirty-seven percent of young adult Millennials working at larger enterprises would be happier if cellular coverage and reception at work were improved. The response rate among older members of Generation X was higher at 41 percent. And for those over 55 the measurement came in at 31 percent.
“Ensuring employees are mobile-enabled is increasingly becoming mission critical,” said Art King, SpiderCloud Wireless’s director of enterprise services and technologies. “Productivity through mobility is a competitive advantage and important for employee job satisfaction. As the Internet of Things makes buildings and devices smarter, and wearables penetrate the enterprise, the always-connected mobile workforce is a must-do requirement for enterprise IT.”
In a previous YouGov-SpiderCloud Wireless study conducted in 2013, researchers found that over “61 percent of IT decision makers from businesses with more than 250 employees felt their business had an issue with reliable coverage.”
“We all spend a significant portion of our lives at the office and savvy consumers will make a decision about their operator based on coverage at their desks,” adds Haraldsvik. “This is a huge opportunity for mobile operators who are willing to make in-building network investments considering that 80% of all cellular calls and mobile data connections are made from indoors.”
