BYOD Brings Savings for Federal Employees

For federal government workers, it’s a case of hurry up and wait.

Mobile technology that enables federal employees to connect to work remotely can produce substantial productivity gains for government agencies, but progress has been slowed by an aging IT infrastructure, according to a new survey of federal managers.

Respondents estimate that federal workers stand to gain an average of seven hours of productivity each week from always-on connectivity to their agency’s network, amounting to 364 hours a year, or $14,000 in productivity gains.

A recent study uncovered how a mobile federal workforce is one that is more productive and cost-effective. But getting from here to there, however, proves challenging.

Eighty-two percent of federal managers say that they are frustrated by their agency’s mobile situation, with the top complaints involving a slow connection, cited by 65 percent of respondents, onerous security procedures (57 percent), and limited network access (45 percent). Another 70 percent say that the limitations on their agency’s infrastructure prevent workers from accessing all of their work information remotely.

The study indicated federal employees are taking advantage of the flexibility mobility offers, with 81 percent of federal employees surveyed connecting to work remotely at least once a week, while 54 percent connect at least once a day, and 45 percent connect several times a day, according to an article on eWEEK.com.

“Federal employees are increasingly unplugging from their desktops and using mobile devices to connect to work,” Anthony Robbins, vice president of Brocade’s federal division, said in a statement. “Not only is mobile connectivity what federal workers want, it can provide substantial productivity gains to federal agencies.”

He continued: “Just as large commercial companies have been doing for years, agencies should enable mobile connectivity. They need to embrace the growth in the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend by investing in and deploying modern infrastructure improvements that deliver seamless connectivity, improved access and increased speed of service.”

Federal workers estimate they would gain an average of seven hours of additional productivity per week by having seamless remote connectivity and mobile access to their agency. The report said this equates to 364 additional hours of productivity — or nearly $14,000 in productivity gains per federal employee per year.

The new survey comes amid a broad-ranging and ongoing effort to modernize and improve efficiencies in the federal IT apparatus, which has seen the White House throw its weight behind cloud computing and data-center consolidation, and call on agencies to develop mobile computing strategies to address issues like BYOD and third-party applications.

Patrick Burke is a writer and editor based in the greater New York area and occasionally blogs for Rackspace Hosting