Research conducted by the University of Sydney’s Business School has found that executives are increasingly relying on a multitude of smart technology to assist them in their daily work.

 

A team of researchers from the university canvassed executives in 2006 and again last year to find out what exactly the nation’s highest flyers carry in their briefcases.

 

Dr Kristine Dery and her team of researchers found that briefcases have become a ‘toolkit of technology’, with the average executive toting multiple smart phones, a tablet device and a laptop.

 

"The interesting thing about their work is that they work in this very intense, competitive environment and globalisation has meant that they have to start work very early in the morning for Australia time, but that their day doesn't actually stop," Dr Dery told ABC radio.

 

“We've been following a couple of Australian banks for some time now and looking at what's happened within that environment.

 

"A toolbox typically would contain two smartphones, usually a tablet, an iPad, tablet-like device and a laptop of some kind; a real toolkit of technology that they're starting to carry around with them."

 

A far cry from the much lauded ideal of device convergence, Dr Dery says that the of a single device fulfilling all the executive’s needs is still a possibility.

 

"That [idea] was a nirvana... that was what we were all hoping for; this one device that we would carry in the palm of our hands," Dr Dery said.

 

"I think they would rather overall carry an integrated device if they were still able to use it to the same degree and gain the same functionality.”