Member Article

Tradespeople are more tech-savvy than office workers

Nearly two thirds of tradespeople consider themselves to be more tech-savvy than office workers, according to a new survey.

The study of 500 UK mobile working tradespeople and 500 non-mobile workers, conducted by IronmongeryDirect, found that 64% of tradespeople think they are more technologically advanced than non-mobile workers, while only 35% of office employees believe they are more competent with technology. In fact, the majority of tradespeople surveyed (85%) believe that technology has improved their working life, in comparison to 67% of office-based workers who feel this way.

Tradespeople were most likely to use email (71%), smart phones (69%) and a third (34%) used laptops and 33% used tablets, but as little as 17% used mobile forms as opposed to paper ones. In comparison, non-mobile workers relied the most on mobile phones (57%) and laptops (46%) to improve productivity at work.

Interestingly though, the report found that a quarter of tradespeople would most want to adopt tablets (26%) and a quarter would like their business to use mobile forms to replace paper ones (25%). Video calls were the least desired form of mobile technology (5%).

Non-mobile workers were on a similar wavelength with 48% wanting their company to invest in tablets to improve productivity and 51% saying they wanted to adopt the cloud.

The research was undertaken to find out the benefits of mobile working and how technology is impacting on people’s work, and whether it is driving productivity.

Wayne Lysaght-Mason, managing director at IronmongeryDirect, said: “From our research, it appears the construction sector is ahead of the curve compared to other industries when it comes to embracing mobile technology. This is because the nature of the job requires them to work out in the field, whereas the non-mobile working sector tends to be much more office-based.

“In fact, as we move further into the digital revolution, more and more companies are discovering the benefits of going mobile and adopting new technology. As we can see from the study, employees are now becoming increasingly tech-savvy and are keen for their employers to invest in more advanced devices and solutions, such as tablets and cloud technology. Moving towards a more digital way of working could help to drive efficiency and ultimately boost the company’s bottom line.”

For more information, visit http://www.IronmongeryDirect.co.uk/mobile-workers

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ursula Hutchinson .