IDC: Global mobile workforce rising quickly

Between smartphones and tablets, BYOD and corporate owned, 3G or LTE, organizations have many choices to make when it comes to enterprise mobility. However, the question of mobilizing a workforce is one where organizations have had little difficulty in coming to a decision.

Today, more organizations than ever are equipping their employees with mobile devices and other technology to ensure their productivity remains at an optimum level at all times. And the trend is beginning to be reflected in the sheer number of people who can now be counted among the mobile workforce.

According to research recently released by market analysis firm IDC, the total number of mobile employees around the globe reached just over 1 billion by the end of 2010. But that's nothing compared to what's in store for the next several years.

By 2015, IDC said, the mobile workforce will reach 1.3 billion people, or more than one-third of the overall enterprise population worldwide. That highlights the need for companies to get ahead of the trend with a mobile device management solution.

"Despite recent market turmoil, mobility continues to be a critical part of the global workforce and we expect to see healthy growth in the number of mobile workers," said Stacy Crook, the senior research analyst for IDC's Mobile Enterprise Research program, which conducted the research for the report, the Worldwide Mobile Worker Population 2011-2015 Forecast.

Mobility is already common in North America, as 75 percent of the workforce leveraged smartphones, tablets or both on a daily basis in 2010, according to IDC. Overall, the Americas region contained 182.5 million mobile workers in 2010. But that figure is expected to climb to 212.1 million by 2015.

However, even this is a low growth rate compared to other areas. The number of employees in the mobile workforce of the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, will reach 838.7 million in four years' time after topping out at 601.7 million in 2010, according to IDC.

This is just one of several recent reports to touch on the sheer size of the mobile workforce. According to research released by Mimecast last month, 67 percent of companies analyzed have a mobilized workforce. At companies with 100 to 1,000 employees, 12 percent of workers completed tasks outside of the office 25 to 50 percent of the time.