Portable technology provides crucial benefits.
The killer application to spearhead the next wave in workforce automation may be an enterprise-wide approach to freeing up the entire desktop environment through mobility.Remote access to email, calendars and contact databases has been one of the most important business trends in recent years, but the business model is changing. Rather than introducing new software, the way forward is now about leveraging what you already have – extending existing business tools out to mobile devices.
Right data at the right timeMost research shows mobility is always in the top five investments CIOs are planning over the next couple of years as it improves profitability, attracts and retains staff, and meets organisations’ social responsibilities regarding sustainability.
The key to mobilising the workforce is having access to the right kind of information at the right time and knowing how to manage that. Today that’s mostly limited to giving workers access to Outlook applications (email, contacts and calendars), but we need to be more effective and efficient than that. Mobile communications provide a platform for a business to improve cost performance. This can be achieved by improving the way process tasks are performed, rationalisation of infrastructure and communications assets, and reducing human downtime.
Integrating with the enterpriseMobility is now a mass market thing, but there’s uncertainly around how to get beyond providing remote email access, which has in fact contributed further to the lifestyle challenge, flooding us with emails that don’t relate to our productivity. If we’re going to take the next step and address these challenges, we have to look at the real issues, which means developing an enterprise-wide perspective. Often organisations use point solutions for the sales team out in the field, and after investing often discover the application doesn’t integrate with some core back-office system, only giving remote workers a snapshot of information. To avoid this, you need to understand the overall requirements for mobilisation so that when new functionality is added it can easily link into the entire ICT landscape and grow with the business.
A lot of the applications in use today are inward focused and were never designed to give people remote access. While most modern systems can use software APIs (application programmable interfaces) to distribute in a thin client or browser-type environment on a laptop, there might still be issues with mobility or PDA-type devices. Regardless of how you do this there’s still the need for integration skills to bring LAN applications, back-office and all the pieces of the new enterprise together, and get them out into the mobile world.
Rescaling the interface The ideal is to deliver a seamless work experience regardless of whether you are in the office or working remotely anywhere. To do this, information needs to be delivered using middleware to repurpose and optimise desktop screens for a laptop or PDA environment. Some software can automatically scale CRM, financial or HR software applications for HTML browsers on PDA screens.
Availability and informed decisionsIn terms of collaboration, WebEx for example can enable you to share PowerPoint presentations or a spreadsheet, so regardless of your location you can collaborate on the same version of a document and deliver a single output.
Meanwhile, Unified Communications has now been taken to the next level, called Mobile Unified Communications (MUC), which integrates with the PBX environment. On average it takes two and a half times to contact people in a business environment, so if you already know they are there before you call, no matter where you are, you can save a lot of time.
Giving people presence, functionality, a single phone number and conference calling on the mobile are all key to productivity. Different staff will have differing requirements, ranging from a simple desk phone to a laptop and PDA combo. Similarly, I believe mobile video will quickly become the most important new service, reducing travel costs and making staff more productive (as well as reducing the environmental impact).
Asking the hard questionsMobilising the workplace starts with asking the long-term visionary question: where do you want to go? Do not allow your existing systems to limit the big picture – it is imperative to understand the technology options and be aware of what’s coming down the track. If you remain open to discussion on the ideal environment and the consultant or integrator has a good grasp of your industry and business drivers, then there’s a much better chance of answering the next part of the question: how do you get there?
True mobility is having the option of accessing your information in multiple ways. As well as making staff more productive, especially in an economic downturn, it helps them maintain their work/life balance.