"Captains Of Industry" Are Conquering Technophobia According To BT Cellnet

The craze for sending text messages from mobile phones which has hit the nation has been secretly embraced by some of our top business people. Twenty nine per cent of the "Captains' of Industry" surveyed by MORI on BT Cellnet's behalf say they send and receive text messages from their mobile phone and a further nineteen per cent said they would find the service useful. Three per cent even admit to using the service to receive latest football scores and lottery results. The number of SMS messages sent in the UK each month has now topped 100 million (source: Mobile Data Association).

On the brink of the mobile internet revolution

The industry leaders surveyed by MORI look set to adopt the next wave of new technology: the mobile internet revolution. Twenty three per cent said they are looking forward to the arrival of new technology which will make accessing the internet from mobile phones quicker and easier. A smaller number, 12 per cent, are already using their mobile to access the internet, and 25 per cent are already using it to pick up their emails - a further 31 per cent believe it would be useful to be able to do this.

William Ostrom from BT Cellnet commented: "New technology is often seen as out of bounds by technophobic business leaders. This myth is well and truly exploded by the fact that the most senior business people in this country are adopting the latest communications technology, such as SMS (Short Messaging Service). The imminent explosion in mobile internet access will mean more people will be accessing the internet from their mobile, or other hand held device, than their PC by 2003."

"The speed of change is breathtaking. Businesses of all sizes, and consumers, are likely to start taking advantage of the benefits of mobile internet access as soon as WAP phones become widely available and the high speed remote access network (GPRS) is up and running - new developments expected from BT Cellnet next year."

Email & the Internet are now essential tools

The Captain's of Industry questioned in the survey revealed that they no longer deserve the reputation for being slow to embrace new technology. Virtually all, 95 per cent, have access to email at work, 75 per cent also currently have email at home and a further 12 expect to have email at home in the next year. Eighty eight per cent have access to the internet at work and 27 per cent have access to the internet from their laptop. Internet in the home is also being swiftly adopted, with 75 per cent already on line and another 13 per cent expecting to follow suit in the next year. The transition of such access to mobile devices looks certain to liberate their surfing the internet even further.

The bottom line benefits of technology

The majority of the directors surveyed, 78 per cent, believe that being able to access email, office networks and the internet remotely will deliver real business benefits in the coming years. The more operationally focused directors were more likely to take this view than the managing directors and CEOs surveyed - 89 per cent compared to 74 per cent. Service sector companies were also the most likely to agree with this statement at 86 per cent, followed by manufacturing (79 per cent) and, perhaps surprisingly, only 62 per cent of those in financial services.

But business risks missing the opportunity

Despite the apparently widespread recognition of the benefits of mobile technology, many companies are neglecting to invest senior management time and expertise in getting this right. Only 21 per cent of those surveyed said that they discuss mobile working in the boardroom. Slightly more directors of larger companies (those with more than 5000 employees) said mobile working was discussed in the boardroom: 26 per cent compared to 18 per cent of those who employ less than 5000. A difference in approach from the various sectors was apparent in the survey: mobile working is being discussed by 24 per cent of the boards of financial services organisations compared to only eight per cent in manufacturing.

A further 30 per cent of those surveyed said that they are considering mobile working in their organisation, but not at the boardroom level. Twenty eight per cent said that although mobile working is not an issue for them at the moment, they expect that it will be in the future and 12 per cent said they cannot foresee a situation when flexible working will be relevant to their business.

What they believe the future might hold

Despite all the technological change taking place and around the corner, Britain's business leaders expect one thing to stay the same - paper. Only 12 per cent believe that the paperless office will become a reality, although 28 per cent said it would be a welcome development. Far more, 45 per cent, expect electronic money stored on mobile phones to become a reality and nearly two thirds, 61 per cent, believe that more people will be accessing the internet through their mobile phone than through their PC. The most widely expected development was voice activated technology to replace keyboards and mice - 72 per cent expect this to become a reality and 61 per cent said it would be a useful development.

Technical details

• The research findings are based on results from the annual Attitudes of Britain's Captains' of Industry Survey conducted by MORI. (Interviews were conducted face-to-face between 15 September and 9 November 1999).
• The sample covers 102 main board directors from Britain's largest 500 companies were interviewed.
• Over two-thirds of respondents are Chairmen, Chief Executives or Managing Directors.