Only 55% of senior professionals have access to IT via mobile devices according to a survey conducted by document management software company, Version One.

Given the explosion of smartphones and tablets in the workplace and the move towards flexi-time, it’s astonishing that almost half of the senior professionals surveyed don’t have access to critical IT systems via their mobile devices. This raises the question – are businesses being as smart as their phones?

Version One, surveyed 149 senior professionals, including managing directors, finance directors and IT directors/managers, from a cross-section of UK public, private and third sector organisations.

28 per cent of respondents stated that they are unable to access their corporate IT systems via their mobile devices and 17 per cent stated that they “didn’t know” whether they had mobile access to their IT systems or not.

Of the 45 per cent of respondents who are unable to access their organisations’ IT systems using their mobile devices or “don’t know” whether they can access them or not, only 9 per cent of these were aware of their companies’ plans to enable mobile access to IT systems.

Julian Buck, Managing Director of Version One says, “Having to wait for staff to be sat in front of their PCs before they can access corporate systems is an archaic approach which is stifling for business.”

“A range of business processes can be carried-out using mobile devices, such as the approval of purchase orders, supplier invoices and credit limits. In fact, 76 per cent of the survey respondents agreed that being able to view and authorise documents ‘on the move’ delivers a distinct advantage.”