How Mobility Empowers Work as a State of Mind in the Era of Social Business

6 thoughts on “How Mobility Empowers Work as a State of Mind in the Era of Social Business”

  1. My concern is that many organizations would go as far as step 3/4 (enable corporate email) and stop right there, because the leap to the next step (develop application strategy) is huge (whether you buy or you build). But that’s where things get really interesting, imo. This is were you begin to tie into your social business strategy and find ways to make knowledge workers more productive — not just bringing what they currently have to a mobile device near you.

  2. Luis, as a fellow entrepreneur I salute you. You are right that mobility is increasingly a natural part of the way we live and work. However I’m reminded of a recent blog post by Alison Rosette (http://www.allisonrossett.com/2012/09/08/on-the-brink-with-mobile-what-learning-executives-say/). Alison’s point is that mobile for learning is only just getting there because L&D professionals are still concentrating on the medium and less on the message. Luis, what’s your take on on this do you think that mobile infrastructure is expanding faster than learning and development departments. Are they exploiting it?

  3. Hi Luis
    great post – and yes of course an organisation can not afford not to have a mobile capability for its workforce today.
    However I’m never quite sure which way the pendulum swings for the “whenever, wherever and with whomever” mentality – is it advantageous to the employee who needs to be mobile? or is it advantageous to the business to have its workforce available 24/7?
    Where does it begin and where does it end?
    I’m sure there are arguments both ways, but it must be a strategy that isn’t just about the technology or security – but about best practice for the employee deploying it within their employers framework?

    In terms of a mobile workforce – what is the scope of that mobility and how does this fit in with an increased need for sustainable working practices and cutting down on your carbon footprint in your travels? This has to be a consideration as we go forward. So how mobile do you mean?
    Where does the “technology fetishism” really lie if you travel with an array of fantastic gadgets (yes I’m an Apple fan!)!
    So what tools am I grabbing?- first doing some critical thinking! 🙂

  4. Good post, Luis (and nothing like a long form blog to cover lots of ground on a topic!).

    I’ve spent a lot of time looking at mobility in the workplace this year (I published a report with Ark Group a few months ago about it). To your point about ’empowerment’, I’ve put forward 4 success factors that workforce mobility needs to get right are:

    1. Collaboration – The app must allow the user to be connected to other people and the systems that support the work process or practice.
    2. User control and personalisation – The user must have ownership and autonomy over how they use the app.
    3. Relevance – The functionality of the app must be relevant to the work process or practice at the times and places of use.
    4. Time and place – As time and place of use is negotiated by the user, the app must be beneficial to both the user and the business.

    Empowering the user is a common underlying theme in all these elements. You can read more about it (and there is a diagram) here http://www.headshift.com.au/our-blog/presentations/four-critical-success-factors-for-enterprise-mobile-app-design/

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