Mobile Workers Look for Printers and Scanners

Mobile workers look for free Wi-Fi, printers, scanners, photocopiers and power sockets when choosing a suitable location for work, according to a new survey carried out by Samsung.

60 percent of participants said that free Wi-Fi was a key factor, while 24 per cent identified the ability to print files as a highly important feature. As things stand, less than five per cent of the 101 coffee shops involved in the South Korean firm’s report actually provide printers to their patrons.

A massive 42 per cent of respondents said that they would like to see coffee shops install dedicated areas for workers, due to excessive noise. As things stand, only eight per cent of coffee ships currently offer this.
“Through this research we wanted to get to the bottom of the technology issues of mobile working,” said Mark Ash, the general manager of print at Samsung UK. “The trend of working remotely in coffee shops has been steadily increasing for a while now, but our research found the availability of Wi-Fi is no longer enough to satisfy customers. Despite it being important, customers want a more complete working experience.”

Interestingly, a mere nine per cent of mobile workers said that they make use of 4G on the go, which is a bit of a slap in the face to advocates of “future” networks.

At Mobile World Congress back in February, various branches of companies talked incessantly about how 4G would create “a world without boundaries”, while different units of the same organisations preached about the importance of 5G.

According to Samsung’s survey, smartphones are also the most popular type of device for mobile working, with 71 per cent using the handsets for work purposes. In contrast, laptops and tablets are used in 50 per cent and 49 per cent of cases, respectively.
As a result of these findings, Samsung is set to launch a new range of NFC-enabled Printer Xpress M2835DW printers. Through these devices, mobile workers will be able to tap and print, as well as scan and fax documents while working remotely.

(Source: ITProPortal.com)