Today's business executives use a full array of electronic devices for work purposes, but next to the laptop, the smartphone is their device of choice, according to a new survey from Forbes Insights. Younger execs are leading their charge to mobile adoption, particularly in business-related buying, Web searching, and posting to social networking sites.
Asked to select the devices they use for business purposes, most surveyed C-level executives cite the laptop (87%), followed by the smartphone (82%), desktop PC (75%), netbook computer (31%), Web-enabled tablet (27%), and WAP phone (17%).
Below, other findings from the report titled The Untethered Executive: Business Information in the Age of Mobility, based on a survey of senior executives, conducted by Forbes Insights in association with Google.
Most execs say their computer is most important: 45% cite their laptop as their most important device for business and 37% cite their desktop computer.
But a sizable minority—12%—now use their smartphone most often—and execs expect that level is to climb to 27% within the next three years.
Some 18% of business execs expect to be using a Web-enabled tablet most often within the next three years.
Younger Execs More Comfortable With Mobile
The mobile device is now the primary communications tool for over one-half (56%) of all execs, and nearly three-quarters (73%) of younger execs (those under age 40).
Younger execs are also more likely to use mobile devices for work-related buying: 71% agree or strongly agree they would rather make business-related purchases via the mobile Web than over the phone, compared with 59% of all execs.
Younger Execs More Responsive to Mobile Ads
Nearly there in five business execs (57%) say they notice mobile advertising, compared with 69% of those under age 40.
Younger execs are also more likely to take mobile ad actions: 39% frequently click on mobile Web ads to gather business information, compared with 24% of all execs.
Similarly, 42% of younger execs click on mobile paid searches to gather business information, compared with 25% of all execs.
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Mobile Apps
Younger execs are also more comfortable using mobile apps to find business-related information:
- 39% say they use or click on sponsored B2B mobile apps to gather such information, compared with 25% of all execs.
- 41% use purchased B2B apps to gather information, compared with 28% of all execs.
Meanwhile, 47% of younger execs say mobile apps positively influence their decisions to work with vendors, compared with 16% of all execs.
Devices Preferences by Task
Across various business tasks, younger execs are somewhat more device-agnostic. For example, when reading email:
- 76% of execs overall prefer their computer, and 26% prefer their mobile.
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86% of execs age 50+ prefer the computer, and 13% prefer mobile.
- 67% of younger execs prefer the computer, and 32% prefer mobile.
Younger execs are more likely than execs overall to use their mobile to post to social media sites (25% vs. 20%) and microbloggging sites such as Twitter (35% vs. 34%).
But importantly, 70% of execs age 50 or higher say posting to Twitter or similar sites in not applicable to them, and 37% of such execs say the same about social media sites.
About the data: Findings are based on interviews with 306 C-level and senior executives at US companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue, conducted in September and October 2010.
