Business Mobility: Top Benefits to Your Business

The idea of mobility has always been appealing. Not being tied down to a single place can be exciting.

Working from home or anywhere in the world allows employees more freedom in how they spend their time outside of work. Being able to work on the move also means that business can be done anytime of the day. This was not possible for most people until recently. For a long time having a job meant being in a single location and showing up at the same time everyday. Things have changed in recent years with the invention of various technology and that technology has changed the way business can be conducted for the better.

The dot-com era has brought about a unique blend of technology and a new way of thinking. The proliferation of information and communication advancements has changed the way business is done around the world.

According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2015, 37% of Americans now telecommute.

This is up from 30% in 2008 but a massive jump from the 9% of workers who telecommute in 1995.

This shift towards telecommuting is possible because of technology and the adoption of business mobility. How and where we work is changing, but it is changing for the better in many cases.

Saving Money and Time

Business mobility allows companies to save time and money.

Mobile apps allow employees to record shift start and end times and even check their schedules. Instead of using an old time clock to record shift start and end times, employees can clock in and out from an app. This means that time punches are captured with time and location stamps. The most obvious use for this data is to correctly pay employees according to the hours they recorded. However, this data can also be used to track historic lengths of projects and work rates. Employers can track who worked on what from where and when all thanks to a mobile phone app.

Improved Communications

Mobile solutions can greatly improve communication between managers, employees, and within teams. By pouring all collected data into a centralized pool your company not only saves time and money on data collection or entry but it also encourages collaboration within the company. Employees will spend less time moving, sharing, or entering data which allows more time for them to work with the data and interpret it. Data collected by employees from around the world all put into one place means there is less separation between coworkers. While two people might work on different continents for the same company they can look at the same date and work on the same project together.

Through the power of the Internet and other mobile technology teams of people in different corners of the globe can work together. Instead of waiting for emails to be sent back and forth, a team can look at the same data at the same time to generate real time insights. Not only does this increase collaboration but it also reduces the chances of miscommunications.

Productivity Benefits

Mobile smart phones, tables, and light laptops might not always be considered work tools, but they have great capabilities in the right hands. It doesn’t take much imagination to see how these technological devices could improve work capabilities. Sales reps can use mobile devices to check inventory, create estimates, or share other data all from their phone while away from the office. Construction managers use tables to keep track of projects in real time without needing to be at every work site and this information can be easily shown to clients. Even when employees are in transit, like on a train or plane, they can be working thanks to mobile devices.

Reduces Third Party App Use

When something doesn’t work or is missing people will find a way to fix the problem. However, the solutions people find are not always optimal for businesses. Instead of letting employees find their own apps to solve work issues, you can suggest specific apps that the entire company can use. A good example of this would be work communication apps like Slack. Rather than having one team use Slack, another use WhatsApp, and another use Discord, unite the company with one communication app so everyone can communicate.

Fixed Mobile Convergence

It has happened a million times. You are about to leave the office, but you are on a call. You need to be somewhere and have to leave the office right now to get there on time, but the call is important. You could end the call and call the person back from your mobile phone, but now that other person knows your personal phone number. There is now a way to maintain your privacy, but still make work calls from a personal phone. Thanks to fixed mobile convergence you can effectively combine several devices in a way that is noticeable to other people. You can now take a call on an office phone, push a button, and send the call to an app on your phone with the other person on the call never knowing.

Time Out of the Office

One might not think that business mobility would impact customer relationships, but it has the potential to do just that. Relationships are cultivated through person to person interaction and business mobility allows for that to happen. With the rise of mobile phones more work is being done outside the office. Customer relationships do not grow while workers are sitting at their desk in an office. Waiting for an email to come through is not an effective use of time. By using mobile technology your employees are no longer tethered to their desks which frees them up to work in the field. Employees can attend industry events, meet clients in person, manage projects on site, and more all because they can take their work with them outside of the office.

What works looks like has changed. More people than ever are working from outside the office on mobile devices thanks to business mobility. Technology has brought us to a new type of work and it is improving the way we work.