Nearly 9 in 10 Latin American companies recognize the growing importance of mobile technologies, and almost 70% plan to increase their spending on such technology, according to a recent Motorola Solutions Inc. (NYSE: MSI) survey of the region’s purchasing decision makers.
According to the study, titled “Enterprise Mobility Barometer 2011 in Latin America 2011,” companies cited improvement in business results and employee performance, such as increased efficiency, fewer errors and lower labor costs, as the main benefits of mobile technologies.
Among the trends in terminals, the survey revealed that almost a third of companies used rugged handheld computers, primarily in business, logistics, inventory, external services and asset management. Text messaging was found to be the most common application for two-way radios, and conferencing, collaboration and monitoring applications were among the most planned for implementation in 2012. In addition, a third of the companies mentioned voice over WLAN as an important stimulus for their investments in mobility, especially the implementation of new plans for mobile devices with VoIP technology.
The survey showed that in Latin America the percentage of local area networks (WLAN) using the 802.11n standard is very low compared with other regions. Utilities and energy companies had the highest rates of adoption of the 802.11n standard.
Two-thirds of Latin American companies use smartphones, the survey found, and laptops have been almost universally adopted, mainly because of the need for permanent access and wireless email and contacts.
About 15% of companies use software as a service (SaaS), and 27% use browser-based applications, according to the survey, which also noted that 24% have some kind of video application, a figure that is expected to reach 44% next year.
The Motorola survey was conducted to identify key trends in how businesses in vertical markets use mobile technology and how business strategies are changing in an environment of constant technological evolution. The survey included companies from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, Latin America’s four biggest economies, which represent 74% of the region’s GDP.
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