Phl firms need to keep up with demand of mobile workforce

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine businesses need to improve their information technology (IT) infrastructure as more employees now prefer a mobile and flexible work style, according to virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions provider Vmware. 

In a recent briefing, Vmware Philippines  country manager Emmanuel Portugal said that companies should invest in IT infrastructure that is more responsive to a mobile work style as more millennials   enter the workforce and prefer to use the latest technologies and innovations for work. 

Millennials refer to career-minded young people who grew up as users of high-performance computers, smartphones, tablets, Internet connection, and even rich social media environment.

Citing the latest Vmware MeConomy study,  conducted by the firm for the first time in the Philippines, Portugal said  local firms have to recognize the need to adapt to the millennials’  IT mindset and expectations to stay relevant.

 â€œThe millennials are known to be a tech-savvy generation who grew up with a fast paced lifestyle due to technology. Since their mindset and expectations are different from past generations, they are creating changes in the workplace, and businesses must be able to adapt to these to stay relevant,” Portugal said.

Millennials are the largest generation alive today with 1.8 billion globally of the seven billion world population. They are the first inherently digital generation that never knew a world without Internet or smartphones.

The latest MeConomy 2014 study was  conducted across 14 countries in the Asia Pacific and Japan comprising of Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

About 2,455 respondents between the ages of 18-64 years old participated in the survey.  A total of 150 of the respondents were from the Philippines.

Based on the study, working Filipinos like its neighbors in the region, are realizing the benefits of technology that enables them with a mobile work style, leading to a convergence between their personal and corporate environment

Portugal said most Filipino respondents have already developed a  ‘’mobile mindset‘’  with 83 percent  of the respondents  having worked outside the office and  67 percent who work  “on-the-go,” citing “meeting customers and partners” and “to be more productive and creative” as top reasons why they worked outside the office.

“Work and life is blurring as 93 percent of respondents use their smartphones for work and personal activities,” Portugal said, adding that 73 percent mentioned home as their ideal place to work.

The same study showed that more than 70 percent of the respondents said they could maintain productivity outside the office.

While 87 percent were of the view their IT policies were fair, they wanted support from the companies they work for as mobile workers, with 59 percent saying they want access to applications for work on their personal devices and 69 percent saying they want to be given equipment and hardware that will allow them to work everywhere.

The study also showed that 63 percent  of  Filipino respondents   said they want a comprehensive flexible work policy which will allow them not to be  in the office all the time.

“Challenges for businesses and the IT industry are becoming more and more about adjusting to the needs of millennials – the new workforce– who expect computing to work the way they want it to, and want to receive information whenever and wherever they need it, ”Portugal said.