Since the late 19th century, office environments have used the filing cabinet to keep records stored in an efficient order. However, today’s workplace environment contains more technology than ever before, allowing for more efficient document management solutions. This begs the question, what’s better; the traditional file cabinet, or the digital document management solution?
Computers have evolved from giant machines that take up an entire room, to compact devices that can fit in your pocket. In fact, today’s smartphones are more powerful than computers built a decade ago, which is an impressive testament to the growth of computing. This mobility trend is a huge factor that every modern business must consider.
Your business needs to focus on mobility, and in doing so, you’ll be able to take advantage of many benefits. Yet, this isn’t to say that mobility doesn’t come with its fair share of problems. As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to determine whether or not you want to provide mobile devices to your staff. Just know: the benefits, when handled properly, can far outweigh the risks.
Mobile technology can be a powerful asset that can help your business bypass barriers associated with traditional office operations. Here are some of the primary reasons why your business needs to take mobile technology into account:
Improved Productivity
Since your team will have mobile devices, they can work and be productive anytime, anywhere. Your employees can check their email, organize their schedules, and communicate while out of the office. Mobile technology is valuable primarily because it gives your team the opportunity to work as they see fit, allowing them to get more work done, on or off the clock.
Workplace Versatility
Giving your team the choice of how and where to work can be empowering, and a mobile office provides the technology needed to accommodate this office design. Are there many places in the office where your team can set up shop for a few hours? This is helpful if your employees need a nice, quiet place to get something done, especially if your office is usually rife with chatter of all kinds. If your office environment is structured without a lot of room for collaboration, letting teams meet up in a conference room or break area can empower employees to work together face-to-face.
Greater Efficiency
Improving mobility allows your business model to become more efficient, as you will also be designing your infrastructure with the intention of maximizing access to data and applications. This keeps your employees productive by guaranteeing that all critical assets will be available anytime, anywhere.
With all technology solutions that affect your network in some way, shape, or form, you need to make sure that it doesn’t put your organization’s data at risk. This is most important for mobile devices, which often do quite a bit of roaming. You don’t want these devices to accidentally share information with the outside world or potentially threatening sources. Plus, if these devices are taking corporate data off the company network, and carrying them around multiple Internet connections, there’s no telling what threats are lying in wait for it on unsecured networks.
If your team wants to take advantage of mobile devices, you should consider a BYOD policy that’s designed to keep your business’s critical assets safe. One of the best ways to do so is by implementing a mobile device management solution that allows for blacklisting/whitelisting of apps, remote wiping, and can restrict the flow of data on a per user level.
To learn more about mobile devices and productivity, reach out to us at 800.394.2301.
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