Big Four firm PwC is ditching desk phones for mobiles in its latest efficiency drive.
By the end of the summer all PwC offices will have scrapped landlines, adopting a “mobile-focused” approach which reflects a bigger global shift away from stationary telephones towards handheld devices.
A spokesperson for PwC said: “With landline usage falling rapidly, we believe that a more mobile-focused policy is a more efficient way of working and supports our people’s increasingly flexible working style more effectively.”
Since 2014 landline phones used in UK homes have fallen from 81 per cent to 76 per cent. In 2004 more than 90 percent of households in the US had an operational landline phone, but that has fallen to below 50 per cent, according to data released earlier this year by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
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The auditing giant’s new strategy would indicate that major bussinesses are starting to make a similar shift.
PwC will be hoping its mobile-led efficiency drive will boost its outlook after a tricky few months which have seen the company slapped with a fine from the UK’s accountancy watchdog over its auditing of BHS prior to its sale for £1.
New data out today from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed that mobile broadband subscriptions grew by 80m in 2017, rising 6 per cent from the previous year.
Research earlier this year from comparethemarket.com found that £480 million is currently being wasted every year by customers paying for landlines that they do not use, according to new research by comparethemarket.com.
Responding to the results earlier this month, Peter Earl, head of utilities at comparethemarket.com, said: “The death of the landline is ‘hopefully’ upon us. Smart phones are slowly but surely making landlines obsolete, and generations Y and Z will likely ensure its final demise. As mobile coverage improves across the country, the number of people who will used a fixed line will inevitably decrease.”
