Ensure you have the right person for the (mobile) job

Gartner predicts that wireless e-mail users worldwide will reach 100 million in 2009, and that by 2010 wireless e-mail will be a commodity that business will no longer need to cost-justify.

Hubert Wentzel, Divisional Director of EOH Consulting, says while some companies still have a very archaic mindset when it comes to workforce enablement, others have grabbed it with both hands. Mobility is here to stay, he says, and the cost savings and positive contribution it offers to business must not be underestimated.

Mobile collaboration is emerging in response to a need for increased IT support for “soft” collaborative tasks combined with greater staff mobility, Wentzel says. People are no longer fixed in one place and this means they need more support for mobile collaborative work. Geographically distributed knowledge workers are both highly valuable to an organisation, and sophisticated enough to be aware of a wide range of consumer mobile technologies.

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), a market research and analysis firm specialising in IT and telecommunications, the number of mobile workers is increasing faster than home-based workers, and mobile workers are more productive.

However, companies need to pay special attention to hiring the right kinds of employees, and managing them properly, in order to realise the productivity and efficiency benefits of a mobile workforce. The process actually starts with hiring the right type of managers for mobile workers. They must be results-oriented rather than process-driven. They need to be comfortable seeing only what mobile workers get done and not what they're doing moment-to-moment. Managers must be at ease with e-mail, instant messaging, videoconferencing and traditional phone calls as their means of communicating with mobile workers.

“One of the reasons that mobile work arrangements may fail is that the people selected to work remotely and those who end up supervising the remote workers are just the wrong people. Not all personalities have the discipline to work unsupervised. As much as mobility allows for flexibility, some people do need to have a physical office. I believe that a successful and efficient mobile worker is self-motivated, resilient, extrovert and independent. It is imperative that managers give mobile workers the same access to communications resources as office-based workers. Managers also need to promote visibility of mobile workers and provide forums for social interaction between colleagues through tools like instant messaging and video facilities.”

So, while there are definite productivity gains to be had by enabling the workforce through mobility, Wentzel says the challenge is around the mindset, professionalism and trust in employees. The sooner businesses realise this and align their performance metrics accordingly, the sooner everyone can capitalise on the benefits of mobility, he says.

“As organisations become increasingly global, as effective knowledge sharing becomes a main driver of value and success, and as more complex ecosystems of individuals and groups with specialist knowledge come together in virtual teams, the importance of effective communication cannot be overestimated. Banning consumer technology from employee-owned devices is counterproductive and will stifle innovation. If managed correctly, the mobile workforce holds tremendous growth and opportunity for the employer.”