Research shows Canadian businesses are ready to adopt the next wave of wireless technology

Toronto, ON – Research from TELUS and IDC Canada shows Canadian business is on the cusp of a new wave of adoption in wireless business technology as firms move beyond the basics of mobile email and web access. More than 90 per cent* of Canadian firms now have mobile email and web access and IDC Canada reports that businesses will make changes in the coming year that improve business performance such as replacing paper forms with wireless solutions.

To help address this anticipated shift in the market, TELUS is launching a new strategic online assessment tool, the TELUS Online Wireless Solutions Roadmap. The online tool is designed to help businesses measure their own performance in relation to their peers and competitively evaluate their plans for strategic wireless investments that are designed to drive business performance.

“Canadian business clearly sees the value in integrated mobile solutions but has struggled with a gap in its ability to access those benefits,” said Jim Senko, TELUS vice-president, mobility solutions. “TELUS has developed an online assessment tool that will help address this gap by allowing individual businesses to compare the anticipated value of their wireless investment plans against the results of their peers and competitors in the marketplace.”

As wireless connectivity becomes common place, IDC reports leading companies are increasingly turning to more integrated wireless business applications to drive competitive business advantage with improved productivity, service and revenue. But in 2006, an IDC study revealed that only 36 per cent of Canadian businesses have a wireless business strategy in place as part of their business plans.

“Our research projects show that Canadian businesses see enormous potential in expanding their wireless solutions and integrating them with their ongoing business operations,” said Tony Olvet of IDC Canada. “However the absence of a strategic business plan for implementing integrated wireless business solutions is preventing them from accessing the benefits they see available.”

The TELUS Online Wireless Solutions Roadmap can be accessed at telus.com/wirelessroadmap.

*Methodology: 2007 survey of 683 Canadian companies with access to the web. This research is considered accurate within 4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.