Wireless Will Deliver Next Big Boost for Productivity

Tech-savvy home computer users say the Internet has been the single-most important innovation contributing to improving productivity in the past half-century and they predict that wireless networks will have the biggest impact on productivity in the next five years. That's according to the results of a new international survey commissioned by Lexmark and conducted by global pollster Ipsos. The online survey of Ipsos panelists comprised 9,000 respondents from 18 countries.

Considering a wide range of innovations over the past 50 years, respondents said the following have had the most significant impact in terms of saving them time and increasing their productivity (up to three responses were possible):

• Internet - 60 percent
• Personal computers/laptops - 50 percent
• Mobile phones - 43 percent
• E-mail - 23 percent
• Cars and motorcycles - 22 percent

In the coming five years, respondents predicted the following will have the most significant impact on productivity and saving time (up to three responses were possible):

• Wireless networks - 50 percent
• Greater computing speed - 44 percent
• Smart cards - 41 percent
• Internet/broadband - 40 percent
• All forms of portable computing - 39 percent

Forty percent of respondents to the Lexmark survey said they already have a wireless network at home (Internet or any other connectivity solution made possible by the use of wireless routers, including Bluetooth and WiFi) and, of those, 80 percent said they were more productive because of their wireless network.

Nearly a third (30 percent) of respondents who don't presently have a wireless network at home said they use wireless networks outside the home. Those users identified the following as places in which they have connected wirelessly (up to three responses were possible):

• In their offices - 54 percent
• At the home of a friend - 36 percent
• In coffee shops, cafes or stores - 30 percent
• Library - 19 percent
• Airports or train stations - 17 percent

Ipsos conducted the online survey of its panelists Feb. 16-24, 2007. The survey included 500 respondents in each of 18 countries for a total of 9,000 respondents. "

Posted to the site on 17th April 2007