Survey Shows Adoption of Mobile Facilities in Business Operation on the Rise Among SMEs

77% of local companies have adopted mobile facilities in their business operations, according to a survey jointly conducted by the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, HKSAR Government during the second half of 2004.

The “Survey on Mobile Commerce Adoption in Hong Kong” was conducted annually to study the development and adoption of mobile commerce by the local business sector, in which 98% of establishments are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this survey, a total of 2,014 companies were interviewed by telephone from July to December 2004.

According to Ms Wendy Wong, Principal Consultant (Strategic Information & Intelligence) of HKPC, the survey found that 77% of establishments* in Hong Kong adopted some form of mobile facilities in their business operations, as compared to 73% in 2003, and 60% in 2002. In particular, SMEs using personal digital assistant (PDA) have increased to 13%, compared to 8% recorded in the last survey (December 2003). Among those adopted some form of mobile facilities, only 5% have applied wireless technology (including wireless/mobile information transfer technology and wireless Internet connection technology). “While application of mobile commerce is still not common among business enterprises, local SMEs adopting mobile facilities are on the rise,” she said.

In addition, the survey found that majority of the mobile commerce users came from the trading (65%) and service (24%) sectors. ‘E-mail communication’ (95%), ‘browsing information on the web’ (77%) and ‘sending document’ (48%) are the most popular applications for companies which have adopted wireless technology.

On the key benefits in adopting mobile commerce, ‘increased work efficiency’, ‘enhanced communication between onsite staff and the company’ and ‘enhanced customer service quality’ were cited.

The survey, on the other hand, found that among those who have knowledge about mobile commerce but have not yet implemented wireless technology in their business operations, the majority quoted ‘not required by existing customers’ (91%), ‘not required by partners’ (14%) and ‘high investment cost’ (4%) as the key reasons for their non-adoption.

For details of the “Survey on Mobile Commerce Adoption in Hong Kong”, please contact HKPC’s Wendy Wong at (852) 2788-5825.

For media enquiries, please contact:
Ms Betty Lee
General Manager
Corporate Communications & Events
Tel: (852) 2788-5036
Fax: (852) 2788-5056
E-mail: emilyc@hkpc.org

HKPC
17 March 2005

* This survey covers local establishments that are active in business operation.