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WITH THE EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY, A COMPREHENSIVE MOBILITY STRATEGY IS IMPERATIVE By Kim Greyling, Business Analyst & PA to Managing Director, EES Africa (Pty) Ltd

With the constant evolution of technology and ever increasing business demands, it is imperative to have the necessary mobility strategy in place to enable a company to perform at maximum capacity irrespective of device.

ABOUT EES:

Established in 2001, EES Africa (Pty) Ltd specialises in the integration of multiple

system infrastructure including ICT, Data Centres, Audio Visual, Life Safety, Security

and Building Automation Systems. As an ISO 9001:2008 certifi ed company, our

vision is to be Africa’s management, engineering and auditing professional service

provider of choice. The EES Value Proposition focuses on translating technology into

tangible deliverables for clients through the experience of a talented team of Engi-

neering and ICT Consultants and Project Managers. With offi ces in Cape Town, Jo-

hannesburg and Stellenbosch, EES operates predominantly in the Financial Services,

Hospitality, Infrastructure, Mining, Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy, Retail, Telecoms

and Utilities sectors.

CONTENTS

Page 2 Introduction

Page 2 Defi ning the Mobility Strategy

Page 2 Implementing the Mobility Strategy

Page 2 Conclusion

I MANAGEMENT I ENGINEERING I AUDITING I www.eeslive.com 1

EES Cape Town offi ce:

G11 Silverberg Terrace3 Silverwood CloseSteenberg Offi ce ParkCape Town 7945

PO Box 31322, Tokai 7966Western Cape, South Africa

Email: info@eeslive.comTel: +27 (0)21 702 8340Fax: +27 (0) 86 532 3532

EES Johannesburg offi ce:

Unit 8, West Block Loft Offi ces, First Floor, The Zone Phase II, 26 Cradock Avenue, Rosebank, 2186

PO Box 31322, Tokai 7966Western Cape, South Africa

Email: info@eeslive.comTel: +27 (0)10 590 6270Fax: +27 (0) 86 532 3532

EES Stellenbosch offi ce:

18 Tegno RoadTechno ParkStellenbosch 7599

PO Box 31322, Tokai 7966Western Cape, South Africa

Email: info@eeslive.comTel: +27 (0)21 200 5939Fax: +27 (0) 86 532 3532

Introduction

Several years ago, if a business laptop crashed, was sto-len or damaged, this would have resulted in the end of one’s working world, fi guratively speaking of course. Days would be spent trying to reconnect, resulting in loss of productivity and income for the organisation. Realisti-cally, without a formal mobility strategy in place, this un-fortunate scenario is every company’s worst nightmare.

However, with the correct technology and mobility strat-egy, this scenario never has to become a reality for an or-ganisation. Downtime inconveniences can be drastically reduced to the point where if one device is stolen, one could simply carry on working from a different device.

This paper’s focus is based on a real-life incident in which a laptop was stolen. The employee, as with most employ-ees in an organisation, fulfi lls multiple roles, those of be-ing a member of the company’s technology team, part of the administration team and a business analyst assigned to various projects. These roles rely heavily on the use of a laptop and connected devices. Because of EES’ tech-nology strategy, downtime was limited to just one hour!

Defi ning the Mobility Strategy

Technology refers to the collection of tools, including machinery, modifi cations, arrangements and procedures used by people.

Mobility represents the movement of a technology user and how his or her location, requirements and behav-iour patterns change over time. Mobility management for mobile communication systems makes use of mobility models for predicting future user requirements.

Technology is and always will be in a constant state of evolution. Simply put, if an organisation does not con-tinuously review and adapt its mobility strategy, it will be left behind which is not a position any company can afford to be in. Since more and more mobile devices are being introduced into an enterprise as part of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and being used to access business critical data, there are three key aspects to consider:

1. In today’s mobile world, enabling enterprise mobility has become mission critical. Start with a mobility assess-ment and a mobility strategy for the organisation. While the use of mobile devices can offer many benefi ts for employees in terms of productivity and effi ciency, it also puts a signifi cant burden on the management of IT.

2. To get the most from mobile technology, one has to know exactly how it will impact the workplace environ-ment. Defi ne a policy for your organisation’s mobility strategy. Currently, the average employee uses three de-vices a day to connect. Personal devices are often used for work purposes, and therefore need to be covered by the same policy.

3. Understanding usage patterns is crucial to enabling the correct data in the right format per device. Thus, defi ning intended purposes for each device will assist greatly.

Implementing the Mobility Strategy

The willingness to embrace technology creates an op-portunity for businesses to prepare themselves for the changing ways in which employees will be using tech-

WITH THE EVOLUTION OF TECHNOLOGY, A COMPREHENSIVE MOBILITY STRATEGY IS IMPERATIVE

September 2014

I MANAGEMENT I ENGINEERING I AUDITING II MANAGEMENT I ENGINEERING I AUDITING I www.eeslive.com 2

Written by Kim GreylingBusiness Analyst and Executive PA to MDTel +27 (0)10 200 5939,Email info@eeslive.com

Kim studied a Business Management Diploma and is currently the Personal Assistant to the Managing Director of EES as well as performing the role of Business Analyst. Her responsibilities also include technology administration and coordination for the business.

nology in the future. In order to implement a strategy to remove the risk of data loss and keep staff working, consider the following practical tips:

1. Budget accordingly for the increased costs. A study conducted and pub-lished by the online technology forum, Mashable, indicates that most busi-nesses do not budget accordingly when implementing an organisational mobility strategy. Allowing employees to bring their personal devices to work does assist in decreasing costs.

2. Providing staff with virtual desktop access from any zero (or thin) client enables them to work in ways that previously may have not been practical.

3. Tablets (or even a phablet for those individuals who prefer to streamline) are often better suited for meetings and conferences. Make these devices available for such cases. Microsoft has rolled out Offi ce for tablet and the experience is just as good as the traditional desktop.

4. Enable a technology platform that is hardware agnostic. This allows vari-ous computing components to work with various systems without special adaptations and enables connectivity across devices.

5. Establish back-up schedules and make a back-up of the back-ups. Typical data includes project data, personal data and application settings.

6. Plan for an infl ux of devices and the impact they will have on capacity and bandwidth. Organisations should ask themselves what changes they need to make to the existing infrastructure or what infrastructure do they need to put into place to accommodate this infl ux?

7. Make sure that the organisation’s applications are protected (this goes back to having the endpoint requirements in order) no matter what de-vices are connecting to the network. Protecting data at the application level should keep businesses in good stead. When dealing with data of a sensitive nature, two phase authentication becomes highly useful ie. the users enters their password on the relevant site that they wish to access and a message is sent to their cell phone authenticating that they, the correct users, are trying to access the site. Organisations also need to offer security and support for BYOD when they are being used for business purposes.

8. Training, communication and simulations are critical to being ready.

Conclusion

Today, it is essential to have access to the internet, cloud and company data, as well as be able to communicate with co-workers, associates and clients no matter one’s location. Ever increasing advances in technology make this possible. It is vital for an organisation to have a cutting edge mobility strategy in place to optimise effi ciency and ensure that should a device be lost, stolen or damaged, communication continues. Fundamental to this, is connectivity across devices as well as backup. All staff members need to have training in and knowledge of technology and devices needed for connectivity. This ensures maximum performance of a company and its people at all times.