Office space shrinks as mobile computing grows

Good news for staff fed up with commuting into the office: a third of companies doing business across Europe expect to cut the number of offices they use because of an increased reliance on mobile technologies.

A survey of 210 CIOs at companies in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and Nordic countries found that one in three pan-European companies expect advances in mobile technology will mean they can reduce the amount of office space they use within the next three years.

One-third of the companies questioned said currently more than half of their staff must work from a particular location due to IT limitations. But nearly half (44 per cent) said company culture changes will be the most significant hurdle to mobile working.

Almost all of the companies surveyed by technology integrator Avanade use laptops, while 66 per cent use PDAs, 43 per cent use BlackBerry devices and 36 per cent use smart phones. A quarter currently have 3G phones and a fifth have invested in tablet PCs.

The survey also found that more than half (56 per cent) have bought GPRS data cards and a third have 3G data cards. Nearly half (42 per cent) have implemented VoIP technologies.

Avanade's European CTO Richard Hall said companies are recognising the tangible benefits of mobile working, and predicted that by 2010, employees will be able to work effectively regardless of their location.