Only 11% of IT Decision Makers In UAE, Saudi Say Tablets Have Increased Productivity

Just 11 per cent of IT Decision Makers (ITDMs) in the UAE and Saudi Arabia believe tablets have increased their company’s productivity, according to a survey released today.

This was in stark contrast to respondents in the UK (78 per cent), France (56 per cent), Russia (69 per cent) and South Africa (91 per cent), who participated in the International Tablet Survey by Harris Poll.

Almost 70 per cent of ITDMs from the UAE and KSA also believed that tablets had not affected their company’s overall productivity, while those who believed productivity had increased said it did so by 30 per cent or more due to tablet adoption.

UAE and KSA respondents also ranked tablets lower as a key business tool for mobile workers than other countries, with just over half (51 per cent) saying they were key, compared to 81 per cent in the UK, 80 per cent in France, 84 per cent in South Africa and 77 per cent in Russia.

Tablets were found to have met expectations of 28 per cent of ITDMs in the UAE and KSA, exceeding expectations for 46 per cent, while 32 per cent of companies in which tablets are a standard offering plan to deploy more tablets into the workforce.

In the majority of UAE and KSA companies, ITDMs said tablets were used as a companion device to laptops/desktops (81 per cent) and smartphones (86 per cent), but executives from Dell, who sponsored the study, suggested there were signs tablets could eventually replace laptops.

“What we understand from this new survey is the direction is heading more towards having a tablet which you can use productively and for your personal activities. That’s the exciting part of this coming from IT managers, it looks like we can start looking at tablets replacing laptops,” said Rajat Rallan, senior brand merchandising manager for Dell Middle East.

Out of the sample, 70 per cent of ITDMs from the UAE and KSA said tablets had lower ownership costs than laptops, 39 per cent said tablets required less time for tasks than setting up a physical workstation and 43 per cent for setup and configuration.

Compared to laptops and desktops overall, 47 per cent of ITDMs said tablets were better in terms of mobility, 39 per cent in terms of ease of use and 40 per cent in terms of productivity and collaboration.

Over 1,400 ITDMs were surveyed from 10 countries for the International Tablet Survey, with 77 from the UAE and KSA.