Mobile workers are critical to the
business.
Work is no longer restricted to the office
as more and more employees request for work access on their personal smart
devices. With such a shift in the work process, it is evident that the ground
rules for the fundamental understanding are changing. The IDC estimates that
40-percent of employees in the Asia Pacific will become mobile workers by 2015,
with the majority of them having an office to work out from. With all the hype
surrounding mobility, many IT decision makers around the region have asked
about how they can better take advantage of initiatives and programs that are
wholly designed to boost productivity, increase user satisfaction, and help
reduce their overall mobility spending.
Work
is no longer restricted to the office as more and more employees request for
work access on their personal smart devices
Instead of providing advice on how to
achieve such objectives, we at Panasonic have decided to establish our own best
practices to better streamline the deployment process of our operations,
ensuring a smooth and positive rollout, which can be used as a real-life
example.
Based on what we have done, the company is
now in the position to share some practical tips for IT decision makers who are
keen to deploy mobility into their work processes.
Understanding the needs and pain points
of your mobile workforce
It is not uncommon for the business’ IT
department to have its own agenda and goals for a new technology deployment.
This is often driven by the need to streamline IT processes or capture
additional data in the field since it is a part of a new corporate initiative.
However, it is extremely important that you invest just as much time to
understand the culture and needs of your workforce. This is a critical element
of a successful deployment rollout.
Understanding
the needs and pain points of your mobile workforce
During the process of providing mobility to
our workforce, we advise the IT department to conduct ride-along observations
with field teams or host focus groups in order to get a sense of their
day-to-day challenges and pain points. This allows for one to observe the
redundancies and inefficiencies as well as collect feedback directly from
sampled end-users. It also communicates to your workforce early on that you are
interested in addressing its needs and are proactively working towards making
their jobs easier.
Initiate small pilot or trial programs
Once you understand the needs of your
workforce and start evaluating solutions, initiate pilot programs to test
different solutions in the field. A small pilot concept with a select group of
users is definitely valuable for company research as it can get a feel of the
workflow for the sampled workforce with the possible devices and, at the same
time, immediately communicate their responses towards the research. Tracking
key information, such as the number of repairs / service calls per day or
turnaround times, during the pilot phase will help earn management and
financial buy-in as well as acceptance from the larger team.
Select partners that offer ongoing
support once the solution is deployed
Choose partners that will provide support
and services once the technology is deployed onto the field. As with any new rollout,
it will take time for the devices and associated software to be fully accepted
and usable. Partners that provide on-site assistance and support after the
initial purchase will significantly reduce the time your IT department spends
training and assisting workers with technology transitions.
Choose
partners that will provide support and services once the technology is deployed
onto the field
Offer comprehensive training for all
your mobile users
Once you have selected the best solution,
prepare a detailed rollout plan that includes employee training. Without the
proper training, we find many users, often than most, not using the technology
to its maximum potential. To get the most out of your investment, we recommend
choosing a day and time to roll out the solution in one go. During the training
phase, use advocates of the technology to share success stories from the pilot
program and share the key improvement metrics that you captured and
quantified. Using the participants from the pilot program to engage their
peers will help create excitement and lower resistance to the new processes.
Once
you have selected the best solution, prepare a detailed rollout plan that
includes employee training
With any mobile technology investment, you
are purchasing a solution, not individual devices. Without training and
acceptance from your workforce, you will likely face an uphill battle.
Engaging your field workforce early on and listening to your employees’ needs
will create interest in the new solution and expedite your return on
investment.
Value-creation opportunity
With the proliferation of personal smart
devices, businesses can no longer afford to ignore the mobility trend,
especially when the benefits are too valuable to be overlooked. By integrating
these best practices into their mobility model, operations could further reduce
spending, encourage broad mobility participation, respect employee privacy, and
enhance the overall user experience of these services. All of this is without
compromising on security and compliance or driving up support costs.
By taking these approaches to adopt
mobility, businesses should be able to tap into this trend in the effort to
differentiate themselves from their competitors. Ultimately, it is all about
creating an opportunity for value-creation rather than just minimizing cost
while meeting their overall business objectives.
