KUCHING: Mobilising a company or a business’ workforce is one of the most important and far-reaching projects a business can undertake, says international software company, Citrix Systems Inc.
In a press statement, it said, if mobilisation is properly implemented into a workforce, the business’ productivity as well as performance can be fully utilised.
Citrix Asean’s area vice president Mark Micallef shares seven tips on how organisations can kick start their mobility strategies effectively.
“Align the objectives of your mobility project to those of the broader business. Doing this ensures the project contributes to a business’s productivity, culture and customer service goals and helps secure the support of executives whose performance is measured on improvements in these areas.
“This in turn helps secure project funding and buy-in from affected employees. If the objectives of the project are unclear or not properly aligned with those of the business, the chances of its success are dramatically reduced,” he said.
Micallef further pointed out that implement a mobility “centre of exellence”.
He explained, establishing centers of excellence within their IT departments enables businesses to maximise the benefits of their mobility projects.
“With these projects impacting on most IT functions, including networking, application development and security, these centers of excellence should include representatives from each affected area.
“These representatives then gain opportunities to discuss mobility in the context of their broader IT programs, overcome barriers to adoption and account for new technology developments,” he said.
Micallef also advised business and executive stakeholders to be involved in overseeing mobility projects.
“These projects impact a range of teams and functions within businesses, including management, procurement, sales and service. This makes capturing each group’s mobility use cases and accounting for them in project planning and execution essential.
“The most effective way of doing so is to have project teams report to a committee of representatives of each area of the business. That committee may in turn provide updates to the chief executive or senior leadership team. This system of oversight – with project teams reporting as frequently as weekly or fortnightly – is also likely to ensure mobility projects proceed on schedule and meet all their milestones and objectives,” he commented.
“A rigorous oversight process is particularly important for mobility projects spanning multiple countries in the Asia Pacific. Differences in language, culture and technological maturity may influence how quickly mobility is be deployed in each market.”
Micallef also noted that the management should not skimp on a change in the office ranks or education in the office.
“Mobility is much more than issuing a few tablets or smartphones to employees,” he pointed out.
“To maximise the value of mobility, businesses need to obtain buy-in from their workers, particularly older employees who may be less comfortable with change. In addition, companies need to educate employees about how to be productive when working outside the office, including when to switch off and devote time to personal activities.
“The education programme should also cover policies governing data security, including processes for informing IT of a lost or stolen device to enable them to activate remote wiping procedures,” he said.
Micallef also said select the right channel partner to ensure smooth delivery of a mobility project.
“Businesses need to thoroughly check the track record and competence of prospective partners, including insisting they provide evidence of successfully completing similar mobility projects. They should also check whether the partner provides consultative sale and implementation services; a consulting capability is rare but extremely valuable.
“Businesses should also check whether a prospective channel partner can go beyond implementing an enterprise mobility platform to delivering value-added services such as application development.
“An extremely valuable service a channel partner could provide is migrating Windows applications to iOS or Android tablets and smartphones.
“Finally, the channel partner should have a proven deep knowledge of vendor products, including roadmaps for the future, and sound vendor relationships,” he explained.