The way companies think about enterprise mobility has evolved over the years. In the early days, it was enough to hand out smartphones with easy access to email, calendars, and contacts. Today, the concept of enterprise mobility represents a complete shift in the way we do business; it has to account for the mobility of workers and customers, the 24/7 business cycle, the ‘everywhereness’ of mobile devices, and the need for corporate data to be available on the go.
Most strategies, however, haven’t evolved much beyond email and web browsing. Enterprise mobility grew out of the consumer experience—a market that rewards apps that are quick and simple to use. But the way we work isn’t nearly so straightforward. To see ROI from their efforts to go mobile, organizations will need to do things differently.
Enterprise Mobility in Today’s Workplace
With cloud computing, a global talent pool, and flexible work environments, organizations are prioritizing enterprise mobility as much for the potential benefits as the need to stay competitive.
But many businesses still struggle to adapt to this new environment.
The same simplicity that’s shaped the mobile experience for consumers—one app that does one thing really well—can require so many manual actions that people can quickly become overloaded. Gartner found that most workers need to rotate through six or more content repositories just to get their job done. That kind of multitasking gets old quickly when you’re using an iPhone.
And then, there are the disruptions—what some people refer to as “attention deficit” notifications—vibrations, pings and “bings” that can consist of anything from an urgent text message to a weather update and that can quickly knock someone’s focus off course.
The priority for businesses must be to integrate mobility into a coherent work environment. The ones that manage to do this, and do it well, will have a real advantage, both internally and when measured against the competition.
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What Are The Advantages?
Improvements to personal productivity, operational processes, employee engagement and retention, cost management, access to real-time information and business intelligence, and even new business models are all incentives to get it right.
For example:
- A survey by Oracle found that 68 percent of employees are happier in a flexible, mobile environment, with more than half feeling more productive.
- Eighty-eight percent of businesses using cloud computing told Rackspace they made the move to save money, and 56 percent agreed the move helped them increase profits. Many businesses have also found that going mobile has helped them trim IT spending.
- New product and service offerings aren’t far behind business efficiency as a top driver of enterprise mobility, according to the 2013 CIONET Mobility Survey.
Even if your organization is ready to adapt, however, change doesn’t come easily. While there are quick wins, enterprise mobility raises challenges with longer-term implications—and they aren’t limited to the IT department.
What Are The Challenges?
One of the top concerns about enterprise mobility is data security. Human error is generally a bigger concern than hackers, and the bring your own device (BYOD) trend, while increasingly accepted, still puts corporate data and user privacy at risk.
Another issue is the sheer number of factors that are out of the IT department’s control. According to Appcelerator, 62 percent of enterprises need to support three or more mobile operating systems. Planning around different devices, operating systems, updates, and other compatibility issues can keep experts busy. Trying to build an enterprise-level app that can accommodate all those variables is another concern, both in terms of development and keeping costs under control.
But IT isn’t the only department that has its challenges. Human resources needs to be prepared for changes in work culture and employee functions, as well as the related personnel and management issues that can result. The finance department faces budget planning with the unpredictability of individually negotiated mobile contracts and reimbursements.
For now, it’s hard to foresee where enterprise mobility is headed. However, a recent IDC white paper concluded that enterprise mobility has reached its tipping point: Despite the challenges, most organizations feel the benefits are worth it.
As we discover new solutions to old problems, enterprise mobility will prove to be the future of every business entity. In fact, it would be more apt to conclude that the future of enterprise mobility isn’t ‘yet to come,’ it’s already here.
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