Personal phone usage has been on the incline for some time. The rise of remote work is seeing more people use their personal devices to handle their work tasks instead of traditional computers, according to Kegan Peffer, CEO of Adoozy.
Adoozy is a mobile rental power provider that allows people to ‘rent power’ while on the go.
According to a 2021 report by Ericsson, implementation of remote working in South Africa has increased by 66 percent, while a GlobalWebIndex report shows that since the advent of Covid-19, smartphone use is about 45 percent above normal levels.
Peffer said, “There is a need for on-the-go connectivity that is becoming an entrenched part of our new ‘workplace’ normal. Taking zoom meetings on your phone, having instant access to your emails and Google calendar, handling work tasks over WhatsApp; remote working is changing how we use our mobile devices and will continue to do so in 2022 and beyond.”
Adoozy found that the majority of their users are young urban professionals and university students. According to the data, users aged 18 – 34 years old are renting out power banks to charge their phones out of home or office up to 30 times a month - an average of once a day.
“What this tells us is that that people demand constant mobile connectivity now more than ever. With more companies opting for their employees to work remotely, there is no reason for workers to be tied to a desk if they can still be productive while ‘out-of-the-office,” Peffer said.
The ‘always-on’ culture is particularly popular among professional ‘freelancers,’ and that their mobile devices have become an indispensable tool.
Students rely on smartphones to plug into lectures
Students have also been exposed to their own form of remote working during the pandemic, as they have been expected to stay connected via virtual lectures.
While this has been a manageable task for some, for others, it’s been a little more challenging, especially for students who don’t have round-the-clock access to a computer.
Exciting times for mobile innovation
According to Peffer, the functionality of smartphones today, while impressive and always evolving, still has some way to go in terms of meeting user needs with battery power capability.
He said, “We will continue to demand even more from our phones, and it’s going to be very exciting to watch not only how our phone habits grow and change, but how the mobile market adapts to changing user behaviour and accommodates with innovative solutions”.
Digital savvy youth are the fastest-growing population in Sub-Saharan Africa, with reports showing that by 2025, the new normal in South Africa will see an increased dependency on online activities for daily tasks.
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