Mobility has never been more important to the business landscape with a culture of always-on connectivity to customers, colleagues and business partners now firmly embedded into most people’s daily working routine.
This seismic shift in attitude has been enabled by a new generation of mobile devices, which continues to transform and improve on previous models, constantly providing a fresh perspective for employees looking to improve their productivity.
Boitumelo Kgonare, Dell South Africa’s Product Marketing Manager says that manufacturers have made good use of various factors such as new processors, battery, screen, flash memory and storage technology to pack more processing power into smaller devices giving employees the opportunity to pack the most powerful punch when they are out of the office.
“It is quite clear that consumers and business users are equally as keen to adopt mobile technology in the South African business landscape. It does however place pressure on IT departments tasked with accommodating the employee demand for wireless access to business systems from whatever location employees happen to be in.”
Dell recently conducted a survey with IT decision makers working for South African companies to determine the current usage of mobile devices and applications for business purposes within the country.
“Some organisations have been forced to develop formal Bring your Own (BYOD) and Choose Your Own Device (CYOD) policies to address the management and security problems posed by employees, bringing their own devices into the workplace.”
The South African workforce is evolving slower than major markets internationally, and subsequently mobility adoption is not with the same speed. However the overall trends around the adoption of mobility is driven from the same seismic shift in attitude toward how we work globally, says Kgonare.
What does the current mobile enterprise landscape look like?
- You’ve got mail. The South African workforce use their mobile devices to access email and messaging applications.
- Surf’s up. Most employees also utilise their mobile devices to browse the internet
- Tools for the job. They also seem to make good use of collaboration and conference tools. There seems to be a slight preference for applications geared to communication and collaboration rather than data or text input tools. 59% of the South African workforce has a preference for file sharing software such as Dropbox, Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive
- Let’s Network. 64% utilise the business orientated social media network, such as LinkedIn.
What are the challenges businesses faces in terms of a mobile workforce?
- Application compatibility and development
- Data security and user authentication
- Mobile device management (MDM)
- User profiling the mobile workforce & selecting the best mobile device for business use
How can businesses overcome these challenges?
- Assess the technology impact. Should organisations want to enable a more mobile workforce they need to assess their existing IT systems and policies in terms of integration, application compatibility and service adoption before beginning, in order to align the project with broader IT and business plans earmarked for future development.
- Your one stop solution. Dell Mobile Solutions encompass all aspects of mobility, helping you strip away complexity; risk and cost in one go.
- Use the same vendor. Realise the benefit of deploying similar or identical operating systems from the same vendor across multiple device formats.
- User profiling is critical. Profiling the mobile workforce is critical in identifying the most appropriate mobility device. Dell offers a range of touch enabled Thin, lightweight Ultrabook’s, Hybrid 2-in-1 devices & Tablets fit for business use with adequate processing power yet secured & boasts a reliable battery life.
How can IT departments adapt faster to the shift to a more mobile workforce?
- Meet the demand. IT departments need to enable a more productive workforce by accommodating employee demand for wireless access to business systems from whatever location they happen to be.
- Policy and Security. Businesses need to implement robust policies around security where mobile users bring specific vulnerabilities to the business.
- Adapt. Adapt. Businesses adapting to their evolving employees need for more mobile, yet powerful devices will support multiple applications and fast data input, which in turn will make for a more productive workforce.
To go and view the full report please visit http://dellmarketing.co.za/IDG/