Nowadays, enterprises have the possibility to provide portable devices, such as portable computers or smartphones, to members of staff, which allow them to connect to the internet while on the move and work from places outside the office. In January 2012, 48% of enterprises in the EU27 reported that they provided some type of portable device to at least some of their staff for business use. This was the case for 88% of large enterprises, compared with 71% of medium and 43% of small enterprises.

A closer look at the type of mobile devices enterprises provided to staff shows almost no difference on an EU27 level, with 40% of enterprises providing portable computers and 39% other mobile devices, such as smartphones or Personal Digital Assistants (PDA).

Among the enterprises in the EU27 providing portable devices, 88% reported that these devices can be used by staff to access the e-mail system of the enterprise, 86% to look up information on the internet, 56% to access and modify documents and 45% to use dedicated business applications.

These data come from a report published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, and form part of the results of a survey conducted at the beginning of 2012 on ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) usage and e-commerce in enterprises in the EU27 Member States, Iceland, Norway, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, with a special focus on mobile connection to the internet for business use.

Share of enterprises providing portable devices highest in Nordic Member States and Czech Republic

While the level of internet access and fixed broadband internet connection in January 2012 was high4 in most EU27 Member States, the share of enterprises providing portable devices with a mobile internet connection to at least some members of staff, however ranged more widely, from 22% in Romania, 27% in Greece and 31% in Bulgaria to 78% in Finland, 65% in Denmark and 63% in the Czech Republic and Sweden. Among large enterprises, 95% or more handed out portable devices for business use in Finland (99%), Austria (97%) and Sweden (95%).

Main uses of portable devices in the EU27 Member States

In the majority of Member States, the main use reported by enterprises providing portable devices to staff was to access the e-mail system of the enterprise, with shares of 95% and higher registered in Cyprus (99% of enterprises providing portable devices), Portugal (97%), Malta and the United Kingdom (both 96%), the Czech Republic, Denmark and Spain (all 95%).

The shares of enterprises providing portable devices which allow staff to access information on the internet were highest in the Czech Republic (100%), Poland (96%) and Finland (95%). The highest shares of enterprises that provided portable devices used for accessing and modifying documents were recorded in Denmark and Sweden (both 73%), Belgium (72%), the Czech Republic (71%) and Finland (70%), and the highest shares of enterprises using dedicated business applications in Sweden (71%), the Czech Republic (67%) and Denmark (64%).