IAAP Urges More Training for Office Professionals to Keep up with Changing Technologies

While the number of mobile and cloud computing applications and services continues to grow, surprisingly few office and administrative professionals get trained in new and emerging technologies. Data released by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) shows that the six million office professionals in North America get 10 hours or fewer of training in technology each year.

Somewhat alarmingly, around one-third of office professionals are completely responsible for training themselves, according to the IAAP. The organization released that statistic in tandem with Administrative Professionals Week, and is urging employers to make investments in the professionals development and networking potential of their office professionals.

According to the IAAP, three out of five administrative professionals believe that keeping up with changing technology is the most important issue they must face at their jobs. And with cloud services and mobile trends like bring-your-own-device (BYOD) on the rise, staying on top of new applications and services is a major challenge.

Nearly 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies have BYOD policies, and according to a Harvard Business Review study, 58 percent of companies have deployed mobile enterprise applications for their customers and clients. The findings bode well for growth in the cloud and managed services sectors, but underscore the challenge faced by administrative professionals.

A Pew Research survey cited by the IAAP predicted that 71 percent of respondents will do most of their work using cloud technologies by 2020. And 40 percent of the global workforce is already using mobile technology for their jobs. The amount of cloud technology in use increased substantially between 2011 and 2012, with large businesses increasing usage from 37 to 44 percent, and small businesses from 21 to a whopping 42 percent. The federal government also jumped in usage from 29 to 42 percent, while the healthcare sector increased use from 30 to 35 percent.