Developing a Mobile Strategy

To succeed in business, developing a mobile strategy is becoming a necessity. At the very least, it can set you apart from competition and empower your workforce to do business better when mobile. Unfortunately, there is no universal mobile template that serves every organization. Doing business in the health sector is very different than selling IT equipment and the tools for the real estate business are different from software solution companies. But there are certain building blocks you can use to ensure your mobile strategy is effective.

Here are some suggestions:

- Cell phones aren’t just phones anymore- they are advanced devices with a wide array of uses and form factors. Apple, Google and Microsoft have redefined the cellular phone to being a strategic and necessary tool in doing business.

- Your current IT policies for workstations including remote access to corporate information do not adequately address the demands of these mobile devices. You will need new policies and procedures with the different access capabilities that your employees are using (with or without your permission).

- Start by taking an inventory of mobile devices in use. A mobile strategy and related policy addressing both business and technical requirements are essential. You need procedures to define and apply administrative and security practices to the mobile devices your employees use.

- Personal mobile devices need to be incorporated in your planning. If not immediately, it is only a matter of time before you will need to address this reality. Your employees will demand this.

- Evaluate both personal and business mobile technology use cases before developing new procedures.

- Depending on your organization, your IT Team may need to take the lead in determining the mobile strategy but this is not necessarily the case. It might be the Telecom team. Some organizations have created a new mobile entity to properly move forward with ownership and strategy definition.

- The challenge in developing a proper strategy is the surge and demand of mobile requirements and the ’anything goes’ behaviour of the work force without a coherent strategy. Time is of the essence. At a minimum, the types of information made available to corporate vs. personal devices should be well defined.

- Include an assessment of mobile device management (MDM) tools including security. There are companies specializing in security to monitor corporate and personal devices. Companies like SOTI.net in Canada enable management of devices from a single interface.

- For Support, include live support with clearly defined Help Desk capabilities and web support (FAQ, webinars, etc.). Using the web as much as possible in supporting your mobile strategy.

It cannot be underestimated how important actual use cases are in the development of a proper mobile strategy to address the actual work environment and the devices used and those needed for your organization. This will be qualitative in some cases. Finally, don’t be fooled by the ‘high tech’ marketing of vendors who will try to sell the newest bells and whistles. Frankly, you’re not buying whistles. What you’re trying to do is have a proper mobile strategy to help you do business better when mobile.