Gone are the days when offices used to be these tangible, immovable places. With the terms ‘remote’ and ‘virtual’ invading our lives like never before, offices have become mobile, and shall we say, ‘omnipresent’. Large businesses have their footprint everywhere with virtual local presence. A study conducted by Motorola earlier this year confirms the importance of mobility. In June, Motorola brought out the results of 2009 Enterprise Mobility Manufacturing Barometer, a study focused at understanding the importance of mobility in the manufacturing sector.

Here’s what Motorola says about the survey:

Motorola conducted an independent research study to measure attitudinal and behavioral decision making of IT executives in key manufacturing industries, such as aerospace/defense and automotive, consumer packaged goods (including food and beverage), oil/gas and chemicals, high-tech, life science/medical as well as industrial and heavy equipment. More than 3,400 IT decision makers across 14 countries participated in this market research study through participation with research partners Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS) and e-Rewards. … … The survey was designed to provide a benchmark measurement of the overall perception and usage of mobile and wireless technology solutions across a multitude of commercial and public industries.

Here’s what the survey found:

… manufacturers with mobility applications saved a daily average of 42 minutes per employee. … … 80 percent cited that mobility was more important for their organizations today than in 2008. This represents a nine percent increase from previous research, indicating that enterprise mobility applications continue to grow in importance as manufacturers look to boost operational efficiencies and increase productivity in the current macro-economic climate.

Click here to read Motorola’s press release on the survey.

While the study focuses only on the manufacturing industries, it is clear that it is critical for business to be mobile. Technologies such as hosted PBX help businesses get the mobility advantage apart from reduced operational costs and expenses. The only thought that keeps enterprises away from a solution like hosted PBX is the complexity of management. With the help of expert telecom consultants, businesses can forget about the management complexity and look at reaping more benefits of the telecom solution(s).