Enterprise Mobility 4 Practical Things to Remember

Go to any event about enterprise mobility and be prepared to be blown away with a huge amount of material on security device management integration etc etc.

It’s all good stuff but when it comes to setting up your project in the first place what are 4 practical enterprise mobility things to remember.

1. Map the Process.

You are investing in this technology to generate a positive business impact. Likely the process or workflow is either paper based or using an earlier form of mobile tech perhaps on defunct or unsupportable systems. The important thing is does this process map either how the organisation does this task now or how they intend that it should work. The scope for process re-engineering does not come along very often, make sure you take the opportunity to question the norm.

2. Test.

Once your app has been built test it on your selected devices – A step easily forgotten but it’s important. Not all enterprise mobility apps and deployment scenarios are suited to a smartphone. If you are using line of business devices they all behave slightly differently, how does your app run? How do users get on with devices ergonomically? What are  comms like in the locales where the devices will be used?

A large retail stock control project we were recently involved in rejected one device as the scan trigger was considered badly positioned, not something to find out the morning you deploy 100’s of devices.

3. Feedback.

Ask for feedback from the people who will actually be using the mobile application. It does not matter what the app does if the mobile worker is not able to use it successfully. Keep it simple, going from a paper based process to a mobile device is a paradigm shift so plan ahead and do not do the project in isolation.

4. Familiarise.

Take the time to train your team and familiarise them with how the apps and devices work. User experience is paramount. Not everyone is as familiar with technology as we like to think. Task a project member to help others understand how to operate their new device. You know how to turn it on when to charge it and how to flip from numeric to alpha keyboard but does everyone? Host a workshop or create a user guide.

Key Point, No matter how bang up to date your app, deployment or integration, user adoption is critical to project success.