Enterprise needs to be more proactive about making business information readily available to its increasingly mobile workforce.
Staff can access their personal e-mail and social network accounts whenever and from wherever, and according to Taryn Cromie, sales and channel manager at HansaWorld, they should be able to do the same when it comes to business applications.
"Mobility is not just fancy, but is part of our working and private lives in becoming the main channel of communication, where our mobile devices are a gateway into our own communities," she says, adding that the global trend isn't stopping. For Cromie, businesses cannot afford for their employees to only be productive when they are actually in the office. "Delays can risk a company's competitive advantage. Vital business information should be accessible remotely."
According to Cromie, access to a business' full ERP system on any device via a simple Internet connection is the way of the future. "I strongly believe the only businesses that will find it disruptive are those that are not able to adapt, either because their service provider can't offer the technology or because they don't see how they can increase their competitive advantage by having access to all their data at their fingertips."
She notes that many vendors have not prepared themselves for the mobile wave, but HansaWorld has. A business management software systems supplier, HansaWorld allows businesses to run their full business software natively on mobile devices like tablets and smartphones.
Because sensitive information is being moved in and out of the organisation, concerns that someone could gain access to the data, should a device be lost or stolen, are not unfounded, says Cromie. These BYOD (bring your own device) security concerns make it vitally important to choose a software vendor that has procedures in place to protect the data. HansaWorld's technology, for example, does not actually store the data on the device; the system allows the user to access the data but does not transfer any information.
As employees become mobile, so too will IT departments, says Cromie. "Accessing the complete system means accessing the administration of the system as well.
"Pretty soon we will all wonder how we worked in any other way," she concludes. "The mobile wave is not going away. Companies need to adapt. Being proactive is better than reactive. Choose the right software vendor and you have won the battle before it starts."
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