Companies who want to recycle their mobile phones may consider replacing them with smartphones after their impact was hailed by an analyst.

Heather Mclean, editor and founder of smartgorillas.com, noted that devices such as the Apple iPhone have revolutionised the way in which many small businesses operate.

This, she stated, is because they have enabled company bosses and employees to always be available to consumers and clients.

Ms Mclean said this has led to improvements in their customer relationship management and allowed them to run their firms much more effectively.

She also noted that bosses and members of staff have benefited from regular access to high quality applications while on the move.

Ms Mclean added that smartphones are likely to continue developing over the coming years, with manufacturers addressing concerns such as their limited durability.

This comes after research by The Open University Business School, Barclays and ACCA found that 48 per cent of small businesses in the UK now use smartphones to access the web or email to deal with company matters.