Over a third (36%) of Hong Kong business people believe that company restrictions on using mobiles abroad is a major obstacle to business growth, according to a new study by Truphone and IDC.
The survey also shows that 19% of Hong Kong's traveling workforce is forbidden from using their mobile phones overseas, higher than the global average of 17%.
Yet Hong Kong business people frequently travel overseas for work, with 38% traveling every two to three months, and 23% expecting business travel to increase in the coming months.
Despite the growing need to stay connected, 38% of Hong Kong respondents said they are required to inform IT before traveling and using devices abroad, while over a third have a maximum allowed spend on mobile when working internationally.
As a result, 36% felt that mobile cost restrictions were harming their business opportunities, and 37% said the restrictions were impacting business growth and job satisfaction.
“Against the challenging global economic environments, Asia is driving the world economy, attracting both Asia-based & global enterprises to expand throughout the region. It is an alarming issue that enterprises here have been missing business opportunities due to high mobile roaming cost,” Truphone senior vice president of APAC Dr Alex Ip said.
“Given the changing business landscape and growing needs of BYOD policies, empowering all employees to work easily and seamlessly when they’re traveling should be a bare minimum for international enterprises.”