Mobile computing has become a crucial part of many businesses. Unfortunately, it isn’t always cut and dry as far as the use of these devices is concerned. Sure, they have proven to be a useful tool, but they also have been known to cause significant distractions. If you are looking for a way to maximize the benefits of mobile computing, these four tips can help you.
Use Cloud-Based Collaboration
If there is anything that smartphones are good for inside of a business situation, it is utilizing the communication and productivity apps that an organization uses. This includes email, phone, and other apps used for collaboration. Today, the smartphone is a great construct to utilize video conferencing tools to attend meetings. Furthermore, a lot of businesses are benefiting from their mobile devices through the use of cloud-hosted applications that can run on today’s powerful smartphones.
Control Notifications
Everyone who uses a smartphone knows just how distracting notifications can be for the mobile user. For this reason, if your staff insists on using their mobile devices for work, you should train them on how to limit the amount of notifications they get while trying to be productive. These devices can do a lot of good for a business, but if your users are getting several notifications from social media or other apps, it can be a hindrance to your business’ efficiency.
Minimize Outside Apps
IT can be difficult for people to separate their work and home lives on a device.
Similarly, your smartphone shouldn’t be packed with time-wasting applications that don’t have any workplace-related purposes. This is especially important for any company-owned devices that have been issued to your employees. You must have policies in place that control the applications your employees download to these devices, as they could be taking up valuable space (and time).
Implement Bring Your Own Device
A Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy is essentially a playbook of how a business can manage the mobile devices brought onto their network by their employees and guests. This allows people to use the devices that they use every single day to do their own personal tasks for work. While this may seem like a security problem waiting to happen, the BYOD policy effectively gives the organization control over the device as it pertains to the data and applications that they provide. Using mobile device management, IT administrators can manage the devices as they do the other technology as long as the individual employee opts in.
If you are looking to encourage your employees to be more productive from their personal devices, give North Central Technologies a call at 978-798-6805 and our consultants can take you through what it takes to implement a BYOD policy.
