Nearly half of British businesses using tablets have experienced failures with the devices in the past two years, according to a study.
Those companies had an average of three device failures over the period, with an average repair or replacement time of two weeks, found research commissioned by Panasonic.
The survey of 500 British workers discovered the most common faults to be extreme temperatures at 29%, battery problems at 27%, damage caused by dropping the device at 21%, touchscreen problems at 16% and then screen breakages or button failures at 10%.
Jan Kaempfer, Panasonic’s marketing director for computer product solutions, said: "These findings indicate that British businesses are currently paying a very high price for the convenience of using tablets in the workplace, including expensive total cost of ownership and costly worker downtime.
"The benefits of tablets are clear for all to see but businesses must pay much more attention to the types of device most suitable for their mobile workers and the requirements they have for the device."
The study, undertaken by Dynamic Markets, also found that 73% of employees use tablets when travelling for work, but that 64% also used the devices outside of regular work hours as well as when on holiday.
Most employees found the devices made them more efficient performing work tasks, but 68% also found them less resilient than laptops and PCs.
