As the business world evolves, the way people work together - whether in the office or in the field - is very different today from even a couple of years ago. Today, there is even greater emphasis for companies to enhance the efficiency and productivity of its staff to boost its advantage over its competitors.
One fundamental aspect that businesses have identified as a key factor to increasing competitiveness is mobility. According to a recent Gartner survey, one of the top three priorities for Chief Information Officers (CIOs) is mobile workforce enablement. It seems that every C-Level executive these days is switched on electronically - whether via a Blackberry or another handheld device.
Mobile sales reps in particular have to cope with numerous obstacles such as travelling to various site locations, keeping track of schedules, products and customer orders. They then need to ensure that all information is updated and sent back to head office for actioning by office-based staff by the end of the day.
Before going out in the field, sales reps are stocked with everything that they need to succeed on the road such as product information sheets, promotional materials and sample sales scripts. However, for a company to maintain its competitive edge today, it needs to equip its staff with tools beyond these basic requirements.
The answer comes in the form of a mobile solution deployed on a handheld device.
Using mobile software solutions, field workers are able to conduct activities such as:
- Input important business information and send back to head office in real-time;
- Manage and analyse data to make quicker and more informed business decisions; and
- Regularly syncronise their devices to keep up-to-date with daily company updates and other critical information.
The benefits don't stop there. Office-based staff also strongly benefit from mobile software solutions. Using the data gathered in the field, they are able to make better informed business decisions, have tighter control over field operations and enable a quicker information turnaround. Integrating the solution with back office solutions such as customer relationship management (CRM) software or accounting software will further boost the company's productivity and efficiency.
While mobile devices are quite common in businesses today, developing ways for mobile software solutions to access and integrate with back-office applications is a new priority. Before any company decides to jump on the bandwagon and deploy a mobile software solution, it needs to ensure that it is selecting the right mobile software solution to suit its business needs and can be easily integrated to business operations.
Unlike in-house technology a mobile solution has very different requirements. Some key considerations for businesses deciding to deploy a mobile solution are remote support and administration, synchronisation times and mobile security issues. The application needs to be supported remotely, work efficiently even when the user is performing memory intensive processes on the handheld device and the data must be secure at all times.
For example, when sales reps are on a visit to a point of sale, they need to access information as fast as possible, avoiding any factors which might slow down that access. Every minute counts and must be optimised in today's time-driven working environment.
For sales reps to be able to access information quickly and conveniently, the mobile solution needs to offer high performance synchronisation, even with large volumes of data. The transfer of data between the handheld and the server when inputting or receiving information should be compressed to minimise connection time and reduce communication costs.
A further level of complexity is added as field sales personnel need to have remote access to the sort of data and transactions typically available on CRM software, such as customer details and history, sales analysis and order placement. This process involves determining which categories of information are required by mobile reps, formatting that data and then deploying it to mobile devices, where it can be used in real time from the field. Office-based staff should also be able to remotely control the application and manage support, upgrades and administration without relying on the field user.
Security is an ongoing and major concern for businesses. As the number of data-centric mobile devices grows, so too does the apprehension that these devices and applications will be the next target of internal and external security threats. The challenge is to provide a secure mobile software solution and handheld device that is also easily accessible and usable by all employees.
While basic security precautions for field workers such as data encryption, password installation and user registration and authentication are effective there are additional options to consider, such as if a mobile device is lost or stolen, the ability to delete the information remotely, as well as disable the device through the mobile network. Identifying activity on the device is also important, including being able to pinpoint the location of the device at all times.
Any business deployment of a mobile solution is only as successful as the company's people and processes. For a business to successfully implement mobility in its working environment, its office-based and field workers need to move beyond simply deploying mobile solutions to fostering strategic mobility programs to tie in with the business's needs.
Mobile solutions are not just about increasing productivity for field workers. Rather, these solutions should be optimised to provide secure access to critical and up-to-date business information and boost a business's ability to make quicker and more informed decisions. Using a mobile solution, companies can be assured of staying competitive in today's technology-driven marketplace.