Singapore employees not getting the IT support they want

Employees in Singapore feel they are not getting sufficient support in the office to collaborate effectively, even as 39 percent spend on average eight working days a month away from their desk.

Some 24 percent said their organisations did not provide the right technology tools to facilitate effective communications, according to a survey commissioned by Avaya. Conducted by YouGov, the study polled 507 respondents in Singapore and was part of a global survey that included five other markets such as UK, Australia, and France.

It revealed that 37 percent in Singapore wanted access to work email on their mobile phones, while 43 percent felt their companies should provide calling and mobile data packages. Another 43 percent needed remote access to file servers and databases via their mobile devices or when they were outside the corporate network.

Some 32 percent had access to third-party conference calling tools, while 27 percent had access to video conference facilities and 23 percent had access to desktop conference tools. Another 35 percent had access to their work calendar on mobile.

Just 30 percent said they were able to work effectively and seamlessly on a device of their choice, be it desktop, laptop, or mobile. Some 41 percent expressed desire for a hot-desk option to work effectively from anywhere.

Seventy percent currently used personal social messaging applications such as WhatsApp and WeChat for business communications, without officially management from their company's IT team.

Some 53 percent wanted communication and collaboration capabilities integrated with existing enterprise applications, such as the ability to join conference calls through the calendar app. Another 71 percent believe a technology-supported environment could help them be more productive.