Citing increased mobility in the local work force, Intel Philippines is calling on large businesses to use notebooks, saying it improves productivity especially for "road warriors."

Based on a study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Intel, companies can achieve 5% to 15% "end-user productivity" improvement by using notebooks.

"Data show that notebook users are 51 minutes or almost an hour more productive per day than desktop users," said Jermyn Wong, Intel Philippines business development manager for enterprise solutions sales said in a presentation to reporters yesterday.

He argued that the work force is changing, with growing dependence on wireless networks. This applies across all segments from "road warriors" to light travelers and even to desk-bound employees.

As such, "there are significant gains to be made in terms of enabling new business processes and efficiencies by providing notebooks to more desktop users," he said.

Apart from productivity, the use of notebooks will also improve responsiveness and access to information, and will reduce the cost of supporting remote and home office-based workers.

However, Mr. Wong said it was critical for information technology managers to segment workers by how frequently they travel, to determine the appropriate distribution of notebooks.

The international IT company also recommends that businesses should not keep machines past the optimum three-year life cycle and should acquire only notebooks they deem to be of highest quality and with "low failure rates" to avoid costs in repair and maintenance.

Telecommunication and the media, sectors that rely on mobility, will likely benefit from this transition to notebooks from desktops, Mr. Wong said. — Jeremiah F. de Guzman