3 Tips to Build a Mobile Enterprise Strategy

  

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As mobility continues to revolutionize the workplace, access is critical for productivity both inside and outside the enterprise. In fact, it’s a critical component of what we call “The Modern Office,” which helps support a rapid-growth, profitable business.

Mobile devices and applications are flooding the market, continuing to drive the demand for increased investment in an infrastructure that supports a mobile enterprise. However, before arming your entire sales team with iPads, it’s wise to invest your time and resources in building a mobile workforce management strategy.

1. Consider the Resources Your Infrastructure Will Need
   When building your mobile strategy, consider that supporting mobile devices is driving incremental investments in wireless LANs. It’s important to make sure your WLAN is able to support the wide array of devices and the amount of usage it’s encumbered with on a daily basis. While many companies do provide the tools necessary to work remotely, many employees purchase these items themselves for personal reasons, while still using them for work the majority of the time. Mobile devices like iPhones, Android phones, and iPads provide great remote workplace capabilities. However, because of this influx, three quarters of global enterprises are experiencing WLAN performance issues caused by radio frequency interference.
   
   
2. Consider the Needs of Your Team
   Depending on the specific needs of your company, you might have a greater use for different mobile devices with different applications. If your business utilizes social media to keep in touch with its customers, smart phones loaded with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other applications would be beneficial. For web conferencing purposes, an iPad might be more ideal. If note-taking and sending occurs frequently amongst your employees as they attend conferences and hold meetings, the iPad might also benefit them in that situation as well, as well as when they make remote presentations to possible partners or customers. Depending on what types of workers make up the majority of your workforce – whether they’re sales people, customer service, a production team, or others, this will guide a lot of the decisions regarding the structure your mobile network will take. If there is a relatively even split between different types of employees, talk to representatives from each department to gain a fully rounded understanding of each of their needs.
   
   
3. Consider the Needs of Your Customers
   Customers’ needs should also be considered when building your mobile infrastructure.  That infrastructure should be able to support both the needs of your employees, by enabling them to do their jobs with the most ease, while also enabling greater communication between your company and your customers.

By evaluating these needs, you can then decide which mobile devices will be important to have as part of your network. Once you've determined the right devices for your mobile workforce, the mobile application architecture will be easy to determine. While setting up this infrastructure should come before the distribution of devices, it is necessary to consider the types and number of devices first in order to make sure your entire system is solid as you move forward.

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• Technology Integration Challenges: iPads in the Real World