IT strategies must step up to support Australia’s growing ‘work from anywhere’ culture, highlights Mitel

IT strategies must step up to support Australia’s growing ‘work from anywhere’ culture, highlights Mitel

Telsyte research confirms at least 40% of companies lack the network and application access to support the emerging digital workplace

Sydney, Australia – 2 April, 2013 – Australian businesses must act now to ready their communications infrastructures to support the growing trend for hot-desking and mobile and home working, according to Mitel® (Nasdaq:MITL) (TSX:MNW), a leading provider of cloud and premises-based unified communications and collaboration solutions.

New findings from technology research firm Telsyte show that 76% of Australian companies have employees that work from home and a further 10% of organisations plan to allow more staff to work from home within the next 12 months. The Australian Digital Workplace Study also revealed that 19%* of Australians already work from home at least one day a week.

Over a third (36%) of Australian organisations currently support hot-desking, dedicating about a third of office desks to this practice; only half of those who don't allow hot-desking confirmed it’s not an approach they are considering.

However, the research shows that many Australian companies are not set up to provision for their existing mobile and home workers, or meet future demand for virtual collaboration and communication. A significant 57% of organisations currently without home workers confirmed they don’t have the capability to support them if the need arose.

Similarly, only three in five (59%) organisations that allow mobile working say they have the security, networks and computing devices in place to enable this. Less than half (45%) offer remote application access and only 31% operate a virtual desktop infrastructure.

Graham Bevington, executive vice president for International Markets at Mitel said, “Australian businesses are moving towards a more mobile and teleworking culture, but it appears that the IT infrastructures underpinning these strategies are lagging behind. It has become essential for business owners to review their teleworking strategies and ensure they have a flexible platform in place that supports real-time collaboration and communication to drive employee productivity and support a ‘work from anywhere’ culture.”

Rodney Gedda, Telsyte senior analyst said, “Many roles may not allow people to work from home or away from a fixed location easily, but with advancements in smartphones, tablets and broadband (fixed and mobile), businesses can use cloud services so staff can be equally productive at home. Businesses need to consider unified communications technologies that allow staff to maintain a consistent communications experience outside the office – from instant messaging to single number dialing to multiple devices - so co-workers can collaborate with ease and maximise productivity.”

ENDS

About Mitel

Mitel® (Nasdaq:MITL) (TSX:MNW) is a global provider of unified communications and collaboration (UCC) software, solutions and services that enable organizations to conduct business anywhere, over any medium with the device of their choice. Through a single cloud-ready software stream, Mitel's Freedom architecture provides customers in over 100 countries the flexibility and simplicity needed to support today's dynamic work environment. For more information visit www.mitel.com.

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Contact Information

Australia Media: Mick Gibb, Red Agency for Mitel Australia, 02 9963 7838, michael.gibb@redagency.com.au

International Media: Duncan Miller +44 (0) 1291 612646, duncan_miller@mitel.com

*Telsyte Australian Digital Workplace Study 2012