2013 may turn out to be the year when the mobile office – for so long heralded – finally becomes a reality with an explosion in mobile working applications and cloud-based solutions. But while the enthusiasm and technology required for mobile working exists, many obstacles remain.
The last twelve months have seen an explosion in the number of people who could be described as mobile workers. According to a survey from Good Technology, 132 million of us were taking our smartphones to work by the end of 2013 and by 2017 that is likely to treble. A survey from Plymouth University found that 70% of local businesses gave their employees a mobile phone while 80% gave them a laptop. Already it is becoming common for workers to have several types of smartphones, tablets and laptops for personal and business use.
This remarkable growth has been sparked by an increase in the availability of productivity and work based apps. Previously, mobile workers did little more than check emails; now they can edit and create documents, take part in video conferences, update their paperwork and collaborate with multiple stakeholders all across the world.
This is made possible by the growing sophistication of cloud-based communication and collaboration systems. For example, an employee could use an integrated system which allows him or her to be contacted on the same number through mobile, home and desktop phones. Companies can deposit information into a central resource which can be updated by multiple users on multiple devices.
The benefits are clear in terms of collaboration, productivity and staff wellbeing. A recent study by CISCO found that two thirds of staff would welcome mobile working and those companies that implemented it would benefit from more productive and happier employees as a result.
For example, those workers who are traditionally mobile in their day to day work could see a revolution in their working day. Previously, they might have needed to return to the office several times during the day for meetings, administration or to pick up documents. Now they can conduct teleconferences with colleagues, view documents seamlessly over a secure connection and update their schedule on the go.
So, the desire and technology are clearly there, but, even so, problems remain as a recent report from the NHS into mobile working discovered. It found that the number of mobile working projects being initiated had doubled in 2013, but nearly 30 % of them had failed.
This experience is reflected in other industries. Forrester Research suggests that 50% of workers have experienced delays because key decision makers can’t be reached while a study by Vodafone found that 67% of multinationals blame multiple platforms for holding up progress.
Outdated business systems, siloed infrastructure, the wrong choice of device and a general reluctance to change have all been pinpointed as major barriers, while many still worry about the security implications of any mobile working strategy, particularly those which involve cloud storage.
Although the security on offer for these systems has improved markedly in recent years and is now as good or better than most traditional systems, transferring data to a third party exposes any business to a number of risks. Equally, quality varies, with a number of sub-standard of quasi cloud-based operations still in existence. Some traditional physical operating systems have attempted to ride on the popularity of cloud- based enterprise without offering any of the true functionality.
Even so, the signs for the future point to an acceleration of growth in the number, quality and variety of business applications. As firms of all sizes become more accustomed to more flexible and mobile operations they will start to blend seamlessly into day-to-day working life. Moreover, as the market settles we will see a natural process of evolution slimming out the competition which means fewer, but better operating systems.
One country that does not seem likely to embrace the mobile office, though, is France, which recently introduced a law allowing users to legally ignore any emails sent after 6pm.
