GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITH THE RIGHT MOBILITY SOLUTION THE RISE OF THE ANYTIME-ANYWHERE WORKER The spread of mobile technology throughout organizations large and small has spawned a new kind of business professional: The “anytime-anywhere worker” who extends the workplace way beyond the confines of the traditional office. With tablets and smartphones in widespread use across all industries, professionals have both the ability and the desire to work while away from their desks – in meetings, on the road, at home, and anywhere else they go. According to Forrester, nearly 50% of information workers use a smartphone for work, and 30% consider themselves anytime- anywhere workers. Additionally, Gartner expects tablet purchases to grow more than 50% over the next 18 months. Business are contributing by increasingly supporting mobility at work: Nearly 60% of businesses polled by Forrester plan to increase their mobile technology budgets by at least 5% in 2014 compared to 2013 – with 17% expecting to increase those budgets by more than 10% 1 . It all started with mobile email: According to Forrester, 75% of the workforce already uses mobile email. But mobile business teams are doing a lot more than just reading and answering email: They’ve also embraced collaboration from tablets and smartphones, and they’re moving existing business processes to the mobile environment. They now expect any information or service to be available on any device at the moment of need. They’re doing more than accessing data; they’re also completing real business transactions. They’re not just getting work done faster and more effectively; they’re also undertaking workflows that just weren’t possible before mobile devices and apps came onto the scene. WHITE PAPER 1 Forrester Research, 2014, Forrsights Workforce Employee Survey, Q4 2013
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GROW YOUR BUSINESS WITH THE RIGHT MOBILITY SOLUTION
THE RISE OF THE ANYTIME-ANYWHERE WORKERThe spread of mobile technology throughout organizations large and small has spawned a new kind of business professional:
The “anytime-anywhere worker” who extends the workplace way beyond the confines of the traditional office. With tablets and
smartphones in widespread use across all industries, professionals have both the ability and the desire to work while away from their
desks – in meetings, on the road, at home, and anywhere else they go.
According to Forrester, nearly 50% of information workers use a smartphone for work, and 30% consider themselves anytime-
anywhere workers. Additionally, Gartner expects tablet purchases to grow more than 50% over the next 18 months. Business are
contributing by increasingly supporting mobility at work: Nearly 60% of businesses polled by Forrester plan to increase their mobile
technology budgets by at least 5% in 2014 compared to 2013 – with 17% expecting to increase those budgets by more than 10%1.
It all started with mobile email: According to Forrester, 75% of the workforce already uses mobile email. But mobile business teams
are doing a lot more than just reading and answering email: They’ve also embraced collaboration from tablets and smartphones, and
they’re moving existing business processes to the mobile environment.
They now expect any information or service to be available on any device at the moment of need. They’re doing more than accessing
data; they’re also completing real business transactions. They’re not just getting work done faster and more effectively; they’re also
undertaking workflows that just weren’t possible before mobile devices and apps came onto the scene.
Common Anytime-Anywhere Workforce TasksAcross the board – sales, management, customer service, technical support, legal services, manufacturing and healthcare just to
name but a few business areas – the anytime-anywhere professional is transforming how business gets done. Let’s look at a few of the
ways today’s workers put mobility to work:
• While meeting with a prospect, a sales rep downloads the latest confidential product information – such as sales briefs,
slides, and market data – from the company CRM to her mobile device. She presents them to the client and takes notes
for follow-up. She then prepares a summary quote and presents it directly to the client, who signs it electronically, again on
the rep’s mobile device. After the meeting, she sends links to all of the documents to the new customer.
• Preparing for a teleconference with his regional sales executives, a sales VP downloads performance metrics from the
company’s CRM solution, imports them to a spreadsheet on his tablet, transforms the data into graphs, formats the graphs
into a report, and then uploads the report to the company’s central document repository. During the meeting, the entire sales
team collaborates on the report to prepare for a presentation to the CEO.
• During a routine inspection at a manufacturing plant, a support engineer sees that some of his client’s equipment requires
service in the next two weeks. Accessing the company’s scheduling system from his tablet, he uploads a work order,
schedules an appointment, and sends to both the customer and the engineer who will make the service call.
Secure Workflows: All the Benefits of Mobility Without RiskMobilization of business creates huge gains in productivity and efficiency. Mobilization also creates risk – both to business information
and worker privacy. Every industry needs to be concerned with security when enabling the mobile workforce. Sensitive business, such
as company financials, could be compromised. Private customer data could also be at risk, which could create a loss of revenue and
customer faith in the company.
These issues grow more complex when people purchase their own devices and apps for use at work and when people gain access to
corporate systems through these personal devices. In a recent Good Technology survey of mid-market organizations that support the
use of private devices in the office through so-called bring-your-own device (BYOD) solutions, 65% expressed concern about privacy
and data security2.
The key is to develop mobile workflows without exposing the company to risk. Unmanaged processes, invented by employees at the
moment of need, may occasionally generate results, but they also put the business at risk. Unmanaged mobile apps (often installed
from a public app store by the workforce as a means to complete their business tasks) can introduce unexpected results in how
corporate data is managed.
The difference comes from employing a mobility platform that enables secure workflows in a flexible, yet controlled, manner. Secure
mobile workflows provide the same benefits and results as unmanaged mobile apps but with significantly reduced risk to
corporate data.
When workflows are built on a secure mobile platform, the necessary app management controls can be built into the processes
without weighing the workforce down. A secure mobility platform also maintains control and compliance along with the centralized
manageability that provides the visibility IT requires.
2Good Technology Mid-Market Mobility Trends survey: August 2014
Key Considerations for Evaluating Mobile PlatformsIT can realize a variety of benefits by delivering mobility through a common secure platform. As the business evaluates mobile
platforms, keep these key considerations in mind:
Simplicity and efficiency
Does the mobile solution require special customizations, expertise, or training? Or does the solution enable the workforce to provision
their own devices and install the business apps approved by the organization – where everything just works?
Security
Does the mobile solution truly protect company data and workforce privacy, assuring that there’s no risk of leaking strategic corporate
information and compromising employee data? Can IT determine who has access to data and when they get it? Can policies be defined
to ensure that data remains protected as it is exchanged between apps? And does the mobile solution enable control of access to
corporate systems and confirm the identity of employees using them?
Control
Instead of letting the workforce use their own apps that could connect to a variety of unmanaged, unsecured apps and cloud services,
can the business limit data exposure by deploying the apps – and only the apps – that the workforce can use? Can the business deploy
the apps only when employees can use them? And can IT centrally manage users, devices, apps, and data?
Visibility
Can IT see exactly how the workforce uses devices – which apps they use, who they communicate and collaborate with, and what data
they access?
Lower Costs
Does the mobile solution offer both on-premise and cloud-based deployment options, making it easy to deploy while helping IT avoid
needless complexity and ensuring the workforce can realize faster time-to-productivity? Can help desk teams support the platform
without substantially increasing headcount?
App Ecosystem
Does the platform support a wide array of choices for critical apps? Will users be able to solve their key business problems with the
available apps?
Reliability
Does the platform ensure that services are not interrupted when they are needed? Does the platform introduce dependencies on
components that are prone to failure (VPN, VDI, etc.)? Is high availability built in to the platform? Can operations easily identify
trouble spots before users are impacted?
Extensibility
Will the platform simplify and accelerate the development of new apps? Will it work with new apps, supporting custom workflows
required by the business?
Mobilizing Key Business WorkflowsSince real business processes combine this functionality into business-orchestrated, IT-managed mobile workflows, let’s take a look
at a concrete example of a professional putting mobile technology to work in ways that enable day-one productivity. Note that in the
example, a secure mobile solution provides the apps and services that enable a wide variety of tasks – without an employee or IT
going to any extraordinary lengths to make it work.
Example Workflow: A Mutual Fund Manager Advises a ClientLet’s consider John, a mutual fund manager who holds frequent meetings with clients to see how he can best meet their financial
needs. To do that, he needs to be on top of his game, getting the freshest data available and creating visually-driven analytic reports
for his customers before he meets with them so he can make the most of face-to-face time. Let’s see how he might do this with
his tablet:
Step 1: John downloads data from his company’s cloud-based CRM and market research systems and imports it into a spreadsheet.
Step 2: He organizes the data so it can easily be analyzed, and he creates a report with the tables and graphs he’ll need to present his
analysis to the client.
Step 3: John marks up his report with key observations and recommendations he can use during his client meeting. He uploads his
copy to the company’s cloud storage service for easy recall during the meeting.
Step 4: He schedules the client meeting, inserting a link to a non-annotated version of the report for the client to review before
the meeting.
Step 5: John meets with his client and presents his report, running through the client’s portfolio, other data contained in the report,
and any news that hit the wire since departing for the meeting. John then makes recommendations based on his notes, the latest
news, and the client’s responses.
[Request a copy of John’s workflow in the Good Mobile Workflow Builder: http://www.goodworkflows.com/#workflow,wid=1401407412292&tasks=71|76|42|31|25|46&name=Fund portfolio preparation & presentation&ref=wp]
John’s Workflow: Fund Portfolio Preparation and Presentation
John’s workflow—readying data for presentation to the client, creating and marking up his report, and holding his meeting — relies
on business processes that use systems and data beyond a single mobile email app. The mobile solution used by John’s company
makes it easy for him, making sure he has all the apps and services to do his work quickly and provide a seamless experience for his
customer.
Harnessing the Power of the Anytime-Anywhere WorkforceA secure mobile platform helps your business implement both common and sophisticated mobile workflows that connect the
workforce. It streamlines the processes, policies, and data streams that form today’s business – securely and in a controlled fashion.
The right secure mobile platform also gives you the apps your business needs – which happen to be the apps your workforce wants.
And it just works – simplifying business processes, closing new business more quickly, attracting and keeping top talent, and helping
you sharpen your business’s competitive edge. Finally, a secure mobile platform bolsters employee satisfaction, meeting their
expectations for how they want to work.
Instead of being tethered to desks, teams can do their work from mobile devices anywhere in the office, at customer sites, and even at
home. And they can respond immediately and securely at the moment of need to deepen customer and partner relations, collaborate
with management and peers, make smarter business decisions, and close more deals more quickly.
By selecting a secure mobility platform, your corporate processes, systems and data stay protected, giving you the opportunity to be a
hero and harnessing the anytime-anywhere workforce to drive your business forward.
If you have specific business processes you want to mobilize, take a minute to browse the Good Mobile Workflow Gallery
www.goodworkflows.com/#gallery to see what other organizations and business teams are already securely mobilizing.
If you feel creative, take a minute to define your own mobile workflow www.goodworkflows.com/#workflow and receive a copy of the
PDF to socialize the possibilities with your management and peers.
