Enabling the Mobile Workforce 1

Enabling the Mobile Workforce

INTRODUCTION

The smartphone is advocated as the invention of the century and with more than 1 Billion users availing its services globally1, it undeniably stakes claim for this entitlement. The foray of the smartphone into every facet of life, whether personal or professional, means that everybody is connected to everybody. There is more closeness to pertinent information and thus processes are faster and decision making is better. In the business scenario, smartphones are allowing better practices, policies and rules because of the information they make obtainable. The number of utilities that smartphones incorporate also means that they are fast becoming business tools that go way beyond the objectives of communication into the realms of collaboration and work productivity.

Even companies that were averse to bringing mobile

but to build bridges between their internal information systems and mobile networks.

This paper examines the key drivers of this

industry verticals and strategies that can be deployed by organizations to appraise their willingness for going mobile.

1 Article - Smartphone Users Around the World – Statistics and Facts, Website Name - http://www.go-gulf.com/blog/smartphone

Enabling the Mobile Workforce 2

KEy drIvErs

• Progression in Technology: The advent of sophisticated and intelligent devices that can accommodate more monitoring, analysis and reporting, the ubiquitous wireless and the growing number of price sensitive applications mean that the mobile ecosystem has reached an inflection point and the world is going more mobile.

• Customer Centricity: With customer centricity at the core of most corporate strategies, the need for faster response to customers and other stakeholders is gaining prominence. Mobility means that there is 24/7 real-time information available on customers.

There are a few reasons that can be attributed to the rapidly swelling transition into the mobility world are:

• Shorter Product Life Cycles: With many industries experiencing short product lifecycles, implementation of business critical processes has to become quick and optimal across the value chain. Mobility could help organizations get new processes integrated into field and backroom operations faster.

• Competition: In an increasingly competitive market, mobility can give early adopters a discernible edge, be it in reducing latency in customer service response or tightening operational processes.

Progression in Technology Competition

Shorter Product Life CyclesCustomer Centricity

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MobIlIty across Industry vErtIcals

Healthcare: Clinical data management with patient history and diagnosis, follow ups, prescription management, vendor management, paramedic management etc. are accessible for

physicians and administrative personnel who are on the move. This means better patient care, better physician diagnosis, and structured administrative process with minimal queuing time for patients.3 By gamification of health-centric activities and provision of health related information on phones, awareness is on the rise on various health issues. Doctors have started using smart phones to store patient related information so that they are on the monitoring and analysis all the time. Diagnosis has become easier because of the faster access to patient related data and thus response time is lower. Barcodes attached to patients with information transfer to Smart phones with barcode readers is another area that is fast gaining popularity.

Financial services: The financial services domain has benefited immensely because of faster online transactions and mobile payments. CRM on mobile for field sales teams

means that they are constantly upgraded on newer schemes and products and customers and their performance becomes more streamlined as they have past data on the customer to work on. Since finance firms have large number of products and services spread across diverse schemes and payment terms, sales personnel find it immensely difficult to memorize the optimum fit for their customers. Mobility helps them carry their product kit with them thereby enabling them to act as consultants by supplying the right products and services to the customer. Inbuilt applications like product-related calculators help the sales personnel to recommend the best investment plan with the best ROI. Also, they can rapidly trace defaulters and can have real-time updates on loans and credit card dues.

2 Website - http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/tesco-brings-mobile-shopping-into-the-mainstream/3016615.article, Article on updating shopping carts through mobile apps, and Website - http://news.starbucks.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=763, Article on Starbucks – customer loyalty program through mobile3 http://www.scandit.com/2013/06/20/using-smartphones-for-patient-bedside-care-in-healthcare-facilities-2/ and http://mashable.com/2012/09/26/smartphones-health-care-infographic/

Mobility can add value to organizations across diverse industry verticals with improved responsiveness, augmented practices and crisp decision making. Here are some examples of how moibility impacts different industry verticals:

They can rapidly trace defaulters and can have real-time updates on loans and credit card dues

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Retail: Smartphones are being used in online shopping, point of sale

transactions, CRM initiatives with customer profiling and tracking, materials management in stores, and inventory management in warehouses. From the customer perspective, they can be used for accessing store directories, for product searches, RFID or barcode scanning, mobile payments etc. Online buying and selling are on the rise and smartphones are a key factor defining this. TESCO is already revolutionizing ecommerce by enabling smart phones at the transactional level with online purchasing and billing and even brand loyalty campaigns. Customer responses and suggestions mean that products are more refined with added features and amendments. Starbucks is another name which has embraced the Smartphone line for brand loyalty campaigns.

Transportation and Logistics: Scheduling and route optimization in transport

management, freight management, inventory optimization in warehouse management, supplier collaboration management, traceability across the retail chain, all allow for a constant visibility of the products moving from its initial destination to its final delivery door. Warehouses are now allocating space to third parties because of the space they now optimize because of the storage optimization applications.

Hospitality and Leisure: Travel and hospitality were among the first verticals to fully leverage on-line sales models, so

it’s not surprising that they have also embraced the mobile universe with equal fervor. From booking, check-ins and check outs, inventory checks in terms of room occupancy to order taking in restaurants, mobiles have become more dominant in this vertical.

Government: Digital inclusion underpins all major e-initiatives of most governments.

In India and many developing economies, mobile devices are the primary ‘screens’ that connect their owners to the vast resources available on-line. From government services information, payments to key weather and market updates, critical information travels down the mobile ‘last mile’. Mobility is therefore a critical component of any e-government strategy. The recent example of the online railway bookings in India through smart phones and passport applications are examples of the smartphone initiation into e-government strategies.

Manufacturing: Mobility solutions in this area will allow vendors and suppliers a view

into the production schedules, so that lead times are reduced. Manufacturers and field sales personnel can also keep track of the consumption levels so that additional stocks can be planned. Shop floor alarms for inventory, labor hours tracking and machine maintenance and management are the other allied areas that can benefit from building vertical-specific applications.

Media and Entertainment: Due to the increasing social networking, content has become more

and more user-defined. Companies actually reach out to prospects and customers and take their feedback on improving their deliverables. Mobility can bring about better collaboration with reporters and aid in their scheduling. Mobile apps can deliver highly targeted content to the customers and help improve user experience. Releases and promotions are more accessible.

Online buying and selling are on the rise and smartphones are a key factor defining this.

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challEngEs

Security: This is a key area of concern across sectors. As enterprise data is increasingly transferred across the wireless communication medium, security becomes of paramount importance. Organizations need to implement supplementary security measures to manage data flow between the enterprise and mobile applications as well as bring in additional integrity checks to ensure a uniform and accurate view of data.

Process difficulties: Businesses decision makers are typically apprehensive over whether complex processes can be optimized and ported on to a simple and easy-to-use mobile application. Such vertical applications can have stringent customization requirements and if the mobility solution fails to add value or is identified wrongly, then the cost to adopt the solution will not be justifiable. The choice of processes for ‘mobilization’ is therefore a key decision point.

Technology and Skills: IT departments of companies need substantive training in the management of the new mobile assets. Core technology, as in the manufacturing sector where machines are integrated with mobile applications for generating breakdown alerts, optimizing production cycle management etc., can also be burdened with complexities. That is where a constantly updated training curriculum can help. Simultaneously, IT support staff need to become more cognizant of additional security protocols, de-risking and containment strategies in the new world of mobile data. With information flowing into both company owned devices like PCs and employee owned devices like tablets and smartphones, IT teams need to have information control strategies in place.

Ecosystem: Although India is one of the biggest smartphone markets in the world and one of the most heavily licensed, infrastructure issues are a worrying factor. Bandwidth availability can remain patchy even in key metros. The availability of reliable infrastructure and fail-over options must therefore be considered especially when shifting critical processes to the mobile sphere.

Cultural: It might be difficult for the employees (across sectors) to adapt to mobiles as a day-to-day work tool. Mobiles have always been traditionally viewed as a communication platform and entertainment device rather than a work enabler and gateway to enterprise resources. There has to be a gradual transition and constant support from the leadership to drive the change towards greater mobility adoption across the organization.

The world has shrunk, thus affecting the workplace, where more people are in transit. Mobility of the workforce has become a stark necessity. Information needs to be at our beck and call at every juncture to maintain the competitive edge. But, like as in every technological revolution that has changed the world, mobility puts forward certain adversities as well:

IT support staff need to become more cognizant of additional security protocols, de-risking and containment strategies in the new world of mobile data

ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES

Business Processes: Companies must identify the right business

when ported on to a mobile application. They also need to have a clear vision about how the mobile application will change the process and the way employees will adopt. High impact processes that could positively impact customer satisfaction and lead to faster decision making should be

barriers to adoption and resistance

and researched fully. Resistance to change internally and the feasibility of deploying mobility externally among customers need to be pilot tested before embarking upon the transformation.

Technology: The constant evolution of technology means that certain areas may be nudged into oblivion on the move. Thus, future readiness becomes imperative and anticipation becomes primary. The choice of platform must be future-ready and support the widest number of devices. The choice of process for ‘mobilization’ may also be limited by bandwidth availability in the geographies of operation. Hence, the change should be initiated in technologically advanced areas and gradually move into geographical areas that have lower bandwidth. The technology chosen must be able to orchestrate itself with any

Skills: Skills availability mapping within the team or re-skilling of existing workforce is of paramount importance. Only skilled resources can grip the norms and nuances associated with the usage and adaptability of novel concepts in

upon the rapidity of the adoption. The faster they learn, the faster they become operational and productive.

Business Case: Mobility is a ‘red-hot’ industry buzzword and companies may fall into the trap of mobile enabling applications or processes without clear KPI and

mobility are measurable and the implementation strategy should provide for tracking and reporting of the same.

Every organization looking to extend its presence into the mobile space has productivity as its number one goal and wishes to extract maximum value from the investment in mobile solutions. The beckoning of the rapidly mobilizing world is summoning every aspect of life into its tether

and mould themselves into the desired shape will triumph. Others will rue their fate. Before plunging into the world of mobile applications, companies must contemplate:

the mobility plunge. The biggest value proposition of mobility solutions is the potential transformation that they

to an increasingly ‘mobilized’ world make the change one to embrace rather than resist.

CONCLUSION

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