Mobile devices have facilitated the distribution of the UK workforce, but early adopters are often disappointed as technology fails to meet their expectations, research has claimed.

Analysis firm Quocirca’s Distri-buted Business Index (DBI), sponsored by WAN optimisation vendor Riverbed, surveyed 315 managers at companies with more than one office and 1,000 employees in France, Germany and the UK.

More than 90 per cent of firms equipped staff with mobile devices and upwards of 60 per cent said that mobile computing was fundamental to some business processes. The key factors in enabling access for remote workers were a desire to increase business efficiency and customer and employee satisfaction.

But success in achieving those goals was lowest among companies with a highly distributed workforce. Bob Tarzey, service director for Quocirca, said: “There is always risk in becoming an early adopter. You can gain an advantage, but it does not take that long for others to catch up. Sometimes you suffer from being on the bleeding edge.”

David Hamer, director of telecoms reseller Redwood, said: “Early adopters may not receive great benefits from immature technology. But it is sometimes worth the gamble.”

The survey also revealed that Germany has the most distributed workforce, followed by the UK, then France, although UK companies had on average nine fewer locations than both. Quocirca attributed this to a highly centralised government and the closure of bank branches.