Sports Technology & Communications News from Around the World

A surprising number of U.K. companies are ill-prepared to respond to the disruption of the 2012 Summer Olympics, set to kick off this July in London, according to a new study from Siemens (News - Alert) Enterprise Communications.

Researchers found that approximately 43 percent of U.K. businesses have yet to create a flexible working policy or travel guidelines for the period during which the games are played – a three-week-long stretch that will surely create near-unbearable travel congestion.

Even without the games being played in their capital city, U.K. employees spend approximately 60 percent of their work time outside the walls of their office, according to Siemens. Still, around 40 percent of U.K. employees believe they only "sometimes" have the right tools to be productive when away from their desk.

"By investing in many of the collaborative tools, such as unified communications (UC) and enhancing customer responsiveness, businesses can maintain the delivery of core business functions responsibilities," said David Lindley, UK head of service delivery and support at Siemens Enterprise Communications (News - Alert).

"However, some businesses are not supporting its staff in boosting their potential for more productive and flexible working with effective policies, training and technology," he added.

The results of the study lead Siemens to believe that U.K. companies still have a long way to go to address the implications of the upcoming Olympic Games. In fact, researchers found that Manchester, England – home to several soccer games to be played at the Old Trafford field during peak weekday travel hours – is one of the cities that is least concerned with the impact the games will have on commuting.

In order to address implications of the Summer Olympics – and the mobile workforce trend in general – Siemens suggests that U.K. companies embrace multi-location, multi-device IT deployments to support a gradually agile employee base.