What type of mobile worker are you?

The digital revolution changed the way we work forever. Is your organisation keeping up? Here’s a quick guide to the four most popular digital workers, and how IT support can help your company make the most of the tech boom.

On the go, away from our desks, we can now be more productive anytime, anywhere. Here in the Asia Pacific, we check our phones as often as every seven minutes. With information, entertainment, even communities around the world at our fingertips, work’s naturally just a few taps away too. As early as 2010, research firm Forrester reported that 34% of workers telecommuted at least once a week, working from home, a coffee shop, or other locations. While a common definition is still in the works, a mobile worker seems to be anyone who spends at least 10 hours per week away from his or her main workplace.

Can’t figure out your type? It’s all about the base.Your base — that is, where you work from — says a lot about which kind of mobile worker you are and what it is you need. If you spend most of your time in a company office and occasionally work from home or a third place, you’re an office-based mobile worker. If you’re on the field for, say, sales, IT, or around a corporate campus and do most of your work in someone else’s office, then you’re a non-office- based mobile worker. A home-based mobile worker means working out of a home office, only appearing in a corporate office for meetings or work sessions.

Yet a millennial fresh into the workforce and a digitally savvy Baby Boomer will have different needs. Different roles, different habits — the world of mobile working is as richly diverse as the individuals that populate it. See if you can see yourself among them.

Type 1

Upwardly Mobile Millenials

Distinguishing Marks

Weapons of Choice

Apps that Appeal

Confident one-handed device useAbundance of apps

iPhone, Android phone, as a personal device

Many mobile apps for social networking, online shopping, other personal uses

Apps for work email and intranet access

You are in your mid-20s and work primarily from an office, possibly as an executive assistant, clerical staff, sales associates, customer service rep, or starting an entrepreneurial venture. You are a digital native who grew up with smartphones; your device boasts an arsenal of apps for both work and play — connected (or not connected) to office email, intranet, and social media as you choose.

THE IT FACTOR Your mobile device is personal and, as such, is likely not supported by corporate IT. Regardless, however, you do expect company support for your smartphone and app needs.

And why not? As an Upwardly Mobile Millenial, you belong to the group that, according to Forrester, is only gaining momentum since the digital exodus began. In 2010, only 16% of all corporate employees were considered upwardly mobile millenials; this number swelled to 30% in 2015, almost double in just five years. When anyplace can be your workplace, IT policies that support personal device use and out-of- office productivity are on the money.

Upwardly Mobile Millenials

Type 2

Mobile Movers and Shakers

Distinguishing Marks

Apps that Appeal

Double-handed typingLeather device case

Out-of- pocket, work-related app from a mobile app storeAdvanced collaboration and conferencing appsbeyond e-mail and intranet

Are you a GM, C-level executive, or supervisor? Do you travel often as a company representative, a figurehead, and work out from a personal device in combination with one the company provided? If so, then you belong to what Forrester has identified as the smallest but fastest-growing mobile workforce segment — the Mobile Mover and Shaker.

THE IT FACTOR A leader in your profession, you do not wait for the solution to be handed to you — you get it yourself. You spend at least one to two hours a day on your device that’s critical to your productivity. You don’t feel that your company IT needs to support you — your personal device already features a few handpicked, out-of-pocket apps, mostly for teleconferencing and collaborating with colleagues.

Unlike Upwardly Mobile Millenials, IT sees you as an official mobile worker even if you use your own devices and apps. Perhaps you should interact more with this department; they’re ready to help you out, and their support may iron out a few kinks you thought were just part of digital life. After all, if not the boss, you’re a boss — you already bought your own device, might as well get the most out of it.

Mobile Movers and Shakers

Weapons of ChoiceSelf-selected, self-purchased mobile deviceSmartphone with access to core corporate resources

Type 3

Road Warriors

Distinguishing Marks

Weapons of Choice

Apps that Appeal

Work ID or corporate logo on front lapelWorking shoes

Rugged, non-consumer mobile device, often tablet-typeDevice is locked down tight with control under the IT team

Specialised, industry-focused applicationsNative apps on a single plat-form for specific activitiese.g. sales apps, deliveries,transport/distribution“automatic vehiclelocation” app

Does the open road excite you? Is your desk time limited to when you’re sitting at someone else’s? Is your day made up of specific tasks as a courier and delivery service, field sales employee, retail service, or field service technician? Do you operate in the transportation, retail, healthcare, service, and manufacturing industries? If so, then you are a Road Warrior and belong to the elite group that Forrester found accounted for 13% of corporate employees in 2015.

THE IT FACTOR The devices you use are specialised, with native, industry-focused apps on a single platform. Supported as an official mobile worker, corporate IT makes all the decisions, purchases, and upgrades needed by the work you do — giving you all the support you need to fulfill the very definition of mobile.

Road Warriors

Type 4

Intelligence Officers

Distinguishing Marks

Weapons of Choice

Apps that Appeal

Well-stamped passport and well-documented receipt fileSleek carry-on luggage

Often use different types of mobile devices to accesswork-related apps for e-mail, collaboration andvideo conferencing

Cross-platform mobile apps

Do you travel often to liaise with partners and customers? Spend a lot of time collecting, reviewing, and analysing information? Are email and collaboration the most used among your stable of programmes? If so, then you are an Intelligence Officer, likely engaged as a consultant, financial service professional, or banking exec, estimated by Forrester as comprising 30% of the mobile workforce.

THE IT FACTOR As an Intelligence Officer, information is your business — Corporate IT supports you as an official mobile worker by reimbursing you for the slew of devices you need to keep in touch with contacts and to gather, distil, and secure data. You prefer using a smartphone that’s company sanctioned to access work files, though you also prefer cross-platform mobile apps for email, collaborating, and video conferencing. You are IT’s golden child — anything you need, just ask.

Intelligence Officers

To support mobile workers properly, what work they do and how is as important as

where they work. Which devices are most useful?

Is more than one necessary? Which programmes and apps will they find most useful to their tasks? If the company

encourages personal device use, how is data and correspondence

monitored and secured?

Opportunity doesn’t knock.

It swipes and taps.

Today, a smartphone is asubiquitous as an identification

card. And with millennials in the Asian Pacific region spending an average of 22.4 hours on

them, the mobile lifestyle shows no signs of slowing. The opportunity for productivity is

extremely high — but only with the right support from

IT departments.

Flexible working opens the gates

to a mobile future.

6

Smart Work Gateway by Fuji XeroxSmart Work Gateway or SWG is a new way of working. It changes how you manage your workplace and helps youreimagine operations and streamline communications, setting a new benchmark in usability.

With SWG, you can boost flexibility, remove barriers, and give yourself the freedom to organise how you wish to work. Change how you plug in, sign on and connect to your workplace from any location you choose. Free up your time, be productive and spend your time on work that is meaningful to you. Importantly, in today’s world, SWG allows you to achieve this while adhering with compliance and security policies. Simply put, it is an employee- and customer-centric approach to change the environment you work in.

References1 Millennials in Australia spend almost 2.8 hours a day on their mobile phones: Telstra, Millennials, Mobiles and Money 2016 2 Social Media for Travel Brands. http://wearesocial.com. April 2016.3 On the move how mobile employees are changing the workplace. hermanmiller.com4 What Type of Mobile Worker Rules Your Company? CIO. Shane O’Neill. Feb 2011.5 ap.blog.dimensiondata.com/getting-started- or-taking- the-next- step-on- the-journey-towards- mobility/6 How the Best and Brightest Millennials Live, Shop and Dream, Adweek 20167 Success with Enterprise Mobility: Mobile Task Workers. BradAnderson. Sept 2014.