A Thomson Reuters survey of the Australian legal and taxation industry has found that more than 50 percent of professionals are using their own mobile devices for work purposes.

The survey of more than 300 senior legal and tax practitioners last month found that most popular mobile device was unsurprisingly a smartphone (iPhone or android phone), used by 95 percent of respondents according to the Mobile Device Usage in Law and Accounting in Australia. Tablet devices such as iPads were second highest at 67 percent. The vast majority of firms, 73 percent, say up to a quarter of staff used tablet devices, while 13 percent claim that more than three-quarters of staff were users. 84 percent of firms in the survey were planning to use tablets in the coming 12 months.

However, while 60 percent of respondents are using their own devices, it appears this is not without its problems:  more than half (51 percent) admitted having had technical problems as a result of this; 43 percent suffered security issues, 51 percent had network and connectivity issues, 46 percent had internet access problems and 30 percent experienced issues around integrating with existing IT support infrastructure.

Like many firms Webb Henderson has a bring-your-own-device (BOYD) policy for mobile devices, whereby staff can bring a device of their choice and have it connected to the Webb Henderson system via Citrix, giving them complete access to their desktop from anywhere. Norton Rose also has a BYOD policy for a majority of staff. Philip Scorgie, regional chief information officer - Norton Rose, said the benefit of that is that they can use a device they like and are comfortable with. “We have a set of guidelines, some requirements for security and operational purposes,” said Scourgie. “But if we are too restrictive then the individuals don’t get the full benefit of the device.”

Wotton + Kearney has approached tablet devices in a holistic manner, issuing all partners at the firm with an iPad. “Feedback from the partners so far, particularly about useability and efficiency, is very positive,” said chief operating officer Andrew Price. “The decision to roll out iPads to partners was not difficult – the cost is minimal when compared to the time savings the devices create.” According to the report, 62 percent of respondents who use tablet devices used them for completing work on the move.

However, despite the increasing use of mobile and tablet devices, only a small proportion of firms covered in the survey have an IT strategy in place to cover tablet usage – just 10 percent – at the same time 63 percent of professionals recognise a compelling need for one in their own firm. “The trend for BYOD combined with a lack of strategy from an IT perspective could cause some real issues in the future,” said Rick Ness, chief technology officer at Thomson Reuters Australia and New Zealand. “Tablet and mobile device usage will not go away and it’s key that the professional services tackle this head on and recognise that a specific strategy is required to manage this. The risks of not doing this are far reaching; not only IT problems, but more importantly frustrated staff, wasted work hours and depressed productivity – exactly the issues technology should be solving.” 

Thomson Reuters is the publisher of this website.