The year is 2007. The first-ever iPhone is launched. The world is astonished to see a device that fits on the palms but could do much more than simply make calls or send text messages. Software developers across the globe get to work and start building mobile applications and since then, there’s been no looking back.
The world that we live in was heavily revolutionized with the influx of mobile devices that could double up as computers to get work done, replace televisions to deliver entertainment and make connectivity more realistic than ever before.
After successfully making their place in their personal lives, mobile devices caught up with the professional needs sooner than we imagined. People flocked to offices with smartphones, replying to work emails with quick replies via mobile apps, catching up on meetings during a commute, mobile devices practically started becoming the extension of personal computers. This, and the sheer need of having a connected ecosystem to optimize workflows became the driving force behind enterprise mobility.
Mobile devices - an imperative addition to the enterprise environment
Mobile devices are to modern enterprises what wheels are to a vehicle. It has now become a downright necessity to accommodate, provision and make mobile devices business-ready. Laptops, smartphones and tablets, irrespective of whether owned by the company or the employees, are today a cognitive addition to driving employee productivity as well as forming a cohesive customer experience. As the world moves toward being ‘remote-everything’, ‘hyper-connected’ and ‘experience-oriented’, enterprise mobility is no longer an attribute of opulence but a requisite. The heightened penetration of the cloud, easy availability of data and the internet and the growing popularity of BYOD are rapidly contributing to increased enterprise mobility adoption in the business world.
The proof is in the pudding. The stats around the global enterprise mobility, which project the market to grow at a CAGR of approximately 30% from 2020 to 2027 makes it evident that there’s no better time for organizations to embrace enterprise mobility if they haven’t done so already.
Operational excellence is driven by enterprise mobility
Computers, even the bespoke ones designed to solve enterprise-related challenges are a great addition to any organization’s infrastructure. What mobile devices, specifically those running on Android can add to, however, is speed, ease of use, transferability and customization. Enterprises that operate in the conventional realms of the office space can invite employees to use their personal devices (BYOD) without the concerns of security. The organizations that have a largely distributed workforce or a field-force, or are frontline employee-centric need to have enterprise mobility at the forefront of their organizational goals. From manufacturing floors to healthcare, retail to hospitality, supply-chain to logistics, enterprise mobility can bring forth avenues of organizational efficiency that were impossible to imagine with the pen-paper-computer-based operations.
Some key benefits of enterprise mobility include:
- Fast access to business resources and up-to-date information to field employees
- Replacing pen-paper-based record keeping with modern applications available on phones adds to the employee productivity
- Improved collaboration irrespective of virtual work
- Optimized operations and reduction in overall costs
- Improved corporate data security
What modern employees want
Enterprise mobility is one of the key aspects that make any organization across diverse industries, employee-oriented. Today, the global workforce is driven by elements that are not limited to paychecks. Employees need flexibility - in their work schedules, work environments and devices they use along with having excellent technological infrastructure. Sure, a conventional desk-computer setup can get things done fast. But what makes it a great working experience for the employees is when they can choose their devices and choose where and how they work. To enable this, enterprise mobility looks like the only answer.
How it adds to the customer experience
Just like the modern workforce, the customers today are more driven by organizations, companies and brands that care about not just the offering, but the overall experience. This is why self-service kiosks are a big hit. Customers want the liberty to explore the options- whether it’s for ordering food, checking in for a flight or browsing in-store retail inventory. This is why enterprise mobility finds its place in customer-facing operations as well. The enterprise mobility can be further expanded to optimize checkouts and billing with devices such as mPOS, gather and collect customer surveys, etc.
The challenges of enterprise mobility
Enterprise mobility is crucial for ensuring that businesses stand the test of time. And yet, we can see apprehensions from businesses, and even larger organizations in the adoption of enterprise mobility. The fear of the unknown, as it seems, is real and acceptable. Since enterprise mobility is not only about procuring the next-best smartphones, laptops or tablets for your employees or at customer-facing sites. It’s about making them usable for work. It’s about having them monitored to prevent any breaches to corporate data security. Moreso, it’s about making your employees’ lives easy. Enterprise mobility, if burdens the organizational IT with additional responsibilities and concerns surrounding practicality, usability and security makes little sense. This is why enterprise mobility needs to be rounded off with an appropriate device management tool. A modern, robust mobile device management tool is hence critical to making enterprise mobility a successful endeavor.
