Workflow on the go: how to bring your office to your mobile

Are you busy meeting clients all day? Do you have an important conference to attend for the remainder of the week?

Five years ago, you might have had to let your employees know how work should be handled in your absence. But today, because of the growth of mobile access, you’re expected to attend that conference and coordinate your team at the same time. And the more realistic vision is that your supervisor’s expectations are no longer unreasonable – thank mobile technology for that.

Companies are turning to mobile devices for their executives, and in turn, enterprises are moving to Apple, Android and Windows devices to manage tasks and teams. As the trend of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) moves through the business world, more companies are allowing their staffers to work on their own personal devices. Companies will likely have to support both of the leading mobile platforms.

Research group Gartner estimated that over the next five years, about 65 percent of businesses will adopt a new mobile policy for employees that eSecurity Planet calls mobile device management (MDM).

iPads and other tablets will surely take center stage, with new sizes, styles and functions for certain industries. Not every business need revolves around access to emails and social networks! Gartner says corporate technophiles will need more use of company apps with business-wide standards. These will be easily synched between the company’s private cloud network (or a public one sourced on Just Cloud review) and the end-user’s mobile devices.

Mobile Technology and Managing Workflow

Mobile technology changes so fast that you might wonder exactly how some companies are using it in smart, efficient ways. Check out some specific examples to get an idea of what your competition might be doing:

Company social networks – Executives are accessing their teams’ productivity through internal networks like Yammer (owned by Microsoft), tibbr, Jive, and Salesforce Chatter. Some of these you may have worked with at your company. How can these enterprise networks help a company?

In one sense, these networks are somewhat like Facebook for businesses. They differ from Facebook in that they don’t provide entertainment, but instead help you run your business or manage your team more efficiently. Users and managers can assign tasks, engage in discussions on projects, give employees feedback and send messages to customers. Many Yammer clients use a mobile app that integrates with their main databases, for traveling executives to link to during the course of a work day.

Patient care and the health industry – TechTarget.com describes how tablet computers allow a doctor to speak directly into the tablet, dictating symptoms as described by the patient. After the initial dictation is complete, the patient has the option to review it with the doctor. When compared to taking mental notes and writing them down or entering them into a PC, this method greatly increases the accuracy of the care provided by doctors.

As young people expect more mobile access for their health records, it’s becoming essential for doctors to upload information online to keep patients engaged with their treatment.

Custom productivity apps – Flowfinity Wireless created an app that allows a company to make its own custom app. It’s impossible to create a one-size-fits-all app that works well for every business immediately upon purchase, so for businesses who have a solid understanding of how to increase their own productivity, this is an excellent solution.

Will BYOD Continue to Gain Popularity?

Even though many companies are freaking out about the security issues resulting from employees bringing their own devices to work, BYOD seems likely to continue growing in the future. In fact, an article at Officing Today notes a study by Gartner which estimates 38% of companies will stop giving their employees devices by 2016, while 50% will make BYOD their workplace policy by 2017.

Employees will expect BYOD to be present so their work lives become mobile, just like their private lives. The report by Gartner also notes that businesses implementing mobile technology are reducing costs and producing more satisfied employees.

How to Make Mobile Technology a Success for Your Business

First, avoid the trap of integrating mobile technology just because it’s the big trend. If you want mobile to quickly integrate into your business and make a measurable impact, here are questions to consider and steps to follow:

1. Develop specific plans – Before you do anything else, research and identify precise methods for integrating mobile technology at your business. Mobile can help your business in many ways, but according to research by Harris Interactive and Bank of the West, 33% of the business owners surveyed cited their number one concern about mobile was its “lack of business uses.”

There’s little doubt mobile is helpful — if its use is planned properly.  The article goes on to note that 65% of business owners think mobile technology is vital to the success of their business, 68% say it has increased their business’s efficiency already, and 74% believe it’s important to the future success of their business.  As long as you have a solid plan in place at first, your business will receive a noticeable positive impact from its use.

2. Buy-in from upper management – Once clear methods are established for integrating mobile at your company, get buy-in from the senior team. When you present to them how mobile can make a difference at your company, you’ll get their support with ease.

3. Measure and refine – In general, companies are on board with the idea of integrating mobile, but not all are sure how to do it successfully. As a result, it will be important for your company to continually measure the results mobile provides, and then make changes as necessary to increase the benefit you receive, and also to stay in stride with changes in the mobile world.

Research Apps and Stay Patient

If your business is looking to enhance its productivity with mobile, the best step you can take is to learn where you need to increase efficiency, and then search the market to see if an app exists to meet your needs. Mobile is here to stay. The big question is how to integrate mobile technology and BYOD into your business to make it more efficient.