In the increasingly demanding business environment, small and medium enterprises could be missing out on £60,000 a year from not making better use of deadtime – the unproductive time spent travelling on business or waiting for meetings to start.

Research conducted by YouGov on behalf of T-Mobile UK, found that SME managers are turning to mobile technology to provide faster and more efficient responses to their customers. According to the research, over half (52 per cent) of all SME’s now provide mobile technology for their staff and 83 per cent of these agree that this has enabled them to respond to customer queries more quickly.

A total of 58 per cent of respondents said that mobile technology enables them to process orders faster, a figure that rises to 70 per cent of those that provide their staff with access to wifi hotspots.

The sample size of the study was 788 adults working in private sector companies of 1-49 employees with managerial responsibilities.

Derek Williamson, head of business marketing at T-Mobile UK, said, “The rise of the internet has given birth to a ‘want it now’ culture – customers expect an immediate response to every enquiry. This is forcing SMEs to operate in a different way, and use all the tools at their disposal to be more productive and efficient. The ability to fulfil orders and respond to customers as quickly as possible is of paramount importance, which is why SMEs are starting to recognise that mobile technology can have a significant impact on their bottom line.”

T-Mobile’s rival, Orange UK is also targeting SMEs with the launch of three new tariffs designed with varying size businesses in mind.

Orange Solo is targeted at sole traders and offers simple minute based plans at three price points of £30, £35 and £40 ranging from 400-800 minutes with fifty per cent extra minutes for those taking 24 month contracts. It also includes 1MB, 2MB and 3MB of data respectively as well as a choice of unlimited calls to landlines or unlimited texts.

Orange Venture is aimed at small businesses with 1-10 employees and is a simple minute based tariff with flat rate sharer fees that comes in seven price points with minute bundles ranging from 275 to 3,400 minutes. Orange Business Additions include unlimited calls between sharers and mid contract reviews. Prices range from £28 to £165 per month.

Lastly, Orange Momentum is a tariff aimed at larger businesses. This plan has nine price points ranging from £155 for 2,500 minutes to £3,000 for 45,000 minutes. Orange Business Additions include unlimited calls and texts between.

“We recognise that Britain’s small and medium businesses are not a homogenous group and have developed a range of new tariffs to respond to their individual needs,” said Martin Lyne, director of small business at Orange UK.