Small businesses get smartphones

Many small businesses are using smartphones to conduct their business, according to new research.

A survey of 833 small businesses found that nearly half use smartphones for emailing, which is expected to further increase.

The ‘Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain’ carried out by the Open University Business School, Barclays and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) revealed that 48% small firms use the device for email or to use the internet for business.

Additionally, a further 9% admitted they are planning to embrace mobile technology this year.

The Business School’s Professor, Colin Gray said:

“These quarterly surveys over recent years have seen a strong trend towards the increased use of new ICT and online applications by growth-minded entrepreneurial firms. Britain needs to kick-start and sustain our economy on a longer term basis and technology could provide the answer.”

While Managing Director of Barclays Business, Steve Cooper said:

“Businesses are motivated by the ease, decreasing costs and the exceptional increase in power we’re seeing in handsets.”

“We’ve reached a point where smartphones are running many of the applications that once needed a decently powered laptop. Businesses can log on, make payments, send through an invoice, do their word-processing and catch up on emails – while standing at a patisserie in Lille.”

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