Britain’s small businesses missing out on app productivity gains
- 37% of small business employees, equating to 5 million workers, think they would be more productive if their bosses provided business apps for use on mobile devices
- Despite this, only 22% of small businesses currently offer their staff apps for use at work
- To help, EE is launching Business Apps – a suite of apps specifically selected to help boost small business productivity
3rd July 2014, London: Over 5 million small business employees think they would be more productive with apps tailored to their job, according to new research¹ from EE, the UK’s most advanced digital communications company.
Despite enabling staff to work more efficiently, only 22% of small businesses bosses currently offer their staff apps to help with work according to the poll of 1,083 small businesses. In response, EE is announcing Business Apps, a new suite of apps for business.
The range of business apps selected by EE provide productivity and efficiency benefits, and includes top office, publishing, and accounting apps such as Microsoft Office 365 and Sage One. Employees can save time by replacing tedious expense forms by using the Receipt Bank app, which allows users to scan and submit expense receipts with a smartphone; while MozyPro provides secure file backup and storage for an unlimited number of employees from mobile and fixed devices.
Mike Tomlinson, Director of Small Business at EE, says: “Business Apps from EE is a handpicked range of leading business apps designed specifically with smaller companies and sole traders in mind with deals and extras that are only available through EE. With Business Apps and 4G on the UK’s best and fastest network, businesses can get more done – wherever they are, letting them spend more time on their customers and the things that really matter.”
The initial selection of apps available with special offers includes:
- Accounts manages finances, creates invoices and processes VAT. Payroll is an online payroll service developed for small businesses which is HMRC recognised, RTI-ready
- EE Business Apps offer: Payroll included with Accounts at no extra cost. Price with EE is £10 per month (normally £15 per month). 1 GB of extra data per month added to EE plan 2
- Office applications like Word, Excel and PowerPoint which can be used across multiple mobile and desktop devices
- EE Business Apps offer: 1 GB of extra data per month added to EE plan 2. Subscription is £8.40 per month.
- Online backup with file sync across smartphones, tablets, and computers
- EE Business Apps offer: Double storage from 10GB to 20GB and unlimited number of users. Price with EE is £7 per month 2 1 GB of extra data per month added to EE plan 2
- Gathers, stores and processes receipts and invoices directly from a user’s smartphone or tablet
- EE Business Apps offer: Launch offer of £6 per month
- Website and web shop creator and editor
- EE Business Apps offer: Unlimited download bandwidth3 and increased top limit of items for sale in a shop of 7,500 (normally limited to 1,000). Prices from £6.67 per month.
Business Apps from EE also includes Legal Manager, a legal document builder; CreditHQ, a business credit checking tool; and Zendesk, a customer service management tool, plus EE will continually add to the selection of apps available. In addition, if small business customers take Office 365, Sage, or MozyPro from EE they will receive 1 GB of extra data per month added to their EE plan.
Customers have the added benefit of single sign on for Business Apps, meaning they only need one username and password for all of the Business Apps from EE, and all of the data is securely backed up and stored online. If they need help, customers can access support on Business Apps through UK based call centres, support tools and chat.
Business Apps provides small businesses with the flexibility they require by ensuring they can use the apps as and when they need them by letting customers change their subscriptions every month4.
EE was recently awarded the Best Network for Business for the second year running at the 2014 Mobile Industry Awards. 4G from EE now covers 73% of the population across 229 large towns and cities, and more than 2,500 villages and small towns.
Small businesses can browse, trial and buy these business apps from EE at www.ee.co.uk/businessapps
- ENDS -
Notes to Editors
¹ Online survey of 1,083 UK small businesses conducted by Vision Critical during May 2014:
• “Over 5 million small business employees believe they would be more productive if their bosses provided mobile apps tailored to their job” = 37% of those who said they would be more productive multiplied by 14.4 million people employed by SMEs (BIS, 2013) = 5.3 million small business employees
² GB extra per month for 12 months is available for customers with an EE 4G plan of £35 or more
3 Fair usage policy applies
4 Except Microsoft Office 365 which is a 12 month plan
For more information, please contact the EE Business press team on:
eebusiness@mcsaatchi.com or 020 7544 3735
Or
Paula Betham t: 020 3617 8463 e: paula.betham@mcsaatchi.com
Richard Bell t: 020 7544 3758 m: 07805 568395 e: richard.bell@mcsaatchi.com
About EE
EE is the largest and most advanced digital communications company in Britain, delivering mobile and fixed communications services to consumers, businesses, government and the wholesale market. EE has approximately 15,000 employees and 550 retail stores, and serves more than 30 million customers across its mobile, fixed and wholesale businesses.
EE runs the UK's biggest, fastest and most reliable mobile network, pioneering the UK's first superfast 4G mobile service in October 2012. EE's 4G coverage today reaches more than 70% of the UK population. EE’s 2G coverage reaches 99% of the population while 3G reaches 98%. EE's superfast fibre broadband service covers 54% of the UK population, and ADSL broadband service covers 98.7% of the population.
In the last few years, EE has received extensive independent recognition including being ranked the UK's best overall network by RootMetrics®, Best network at the 2014 Mobile News Awards, Fastest Network at the 2013 uSwitch Awards, Best Network at the 2013 Mobile Choice Consumer Awards and What Mobile Awards, Network Innovation at the 2013 Recombu awards and Best Network for Business at the 2013 Mobile Industry awards.
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