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Half of local authorities offer mobile working

But the other half are afraid of costs, staff reluctance and business change, according to a new survey.

By Nicole Kobie, 26 Nov 2007 at 16:45

Local authorities are holding off on mobile working because of cost and staff reluctance, a survey has found.

While half of councils have implemented a mobile working strategy, a fifth have no plans to, while a third are only in the early planning stages, according to a survey of 93 organisations by Consilium Technologies.

Over 40 per cent cited staff reluctance and cost as barriers, while 31 per cent said support was too much of a challenge. Gareth Tolerton, chief technology officer at Consilium Technologies, said that those weren't the only issues. "It's a big change in an organisation," he said. "You can't just bolt it on to existing technology... it's a broader change in business practices."

Such changes have been slowly achieved by the private sector, which has been steadily moving toward flexible working practices, he said. "The private sector will have had mobile working for longer," said Tolerton. "But the public sector is catching up, and being more innovative."

Tolerton said the use of mobile working technologies has been pushed by government initiatives to improve service and cut costs - two areas in which mobile working offers benefits, according to the survey. Half of local authorities surveyed who do allow mobile working said it lead to reduced costs and better customer service, as well as improved working practices.

"There will always be resistance to change, but the evidence is that mobile working is popular with staff when a solution is deployed," said Tolerton.

Following high-profile data breaches - including last week's loss of 25 million records by HM Revenue and Customs - security will be at the forefront of many IT managers' thoughts. Tolerton said local government bodies are "aware of security, it's always been a concern".

"They'll need to do a risk assessment and make sure to use technology to limit data being exposed," he added - advice also offered by security experts following last week's breach.

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