Few people will remember a time when they didn’t have a computer in their office, they used devices like typewriters, appointment books and the “good old fashioned” pen and paper to manage their businesses and having a computer was out of most businesses budgets. This was a time when phones were attached to the wall and only used when you physically needed to speak to someone.

The Technology and affordability of computers evolved rather quickly and since the mid 90’s every business and home office has had a computer. Our lives wouldn’t function without a computer and if it broke or crashed, you lost a whole days work. A desktop computer became irreplaceable. That was however, until laptops came along. Then people realised the convenience of having a laptop, it could be used anywhere and at any time. However, people still continued to use their desktops and often only used their laptop outside of the office or at home. The changeover to laptops as a solution to replace a desktop, was a very gradual process but one that again, changed our lives.

Fast forward to 2013 and it’s no longer whether we have a desktop or laptop in our office. We live in a society where we communicate with the person sitting next to us without even speaking to them, we “iMessage”, “e-mail”, “Facebook” anything but verbally communicate and we do so on our “smartphones” and “tablets”, completely side-stepping our desktop computer (if we still have one).

Many businesses and users still have the need for a physical desktop computer however more and more are using their tablets and smartphones to perform all of their business functions. A recent global study by an American research company, Forrester Research¹, found that 84% of people surveyed used a desktop computer at least once per week with 63% of people using laptops. However, 48% surveyed use their smartphones for work each week and 21% use their tablets at least once per week.

So the answer is yes… with the growing trend of using our mobile devices to conduct business, more and more people are replacing their desktop computers with their smart phones and tablets. We can work anywhere, anytime and often without having to go outside our front door.

 

¹ http://tinyurl.com/mc5tqaw