MaaS360™

Technology and mobility in the workplace go hand in hand. Laptops allowed us to leave our desks and offices and gave us the freedom to travel anywhere in the world and still be able to access files stored locally on our machines. Cell phones, and now Smartphones, have extended that freedom even more, allowing us to set up virtual offices from just about anywhere. Cloud computing technologies potentially extend this mobility even further by providing access to critical files from just about anywhere on the planet—we’re not limited to just files on our computer or having to tunnel into the corporate network via VPN. Technology has untethered the world.

As Peter Parker said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” In this case, we can amend the phrase to read, “With great freedom comes great responsibility,” or go even further to say, “With greater mobility in the workforce comes a huge challenge for companies to manage.” The logical solution is to address the problem that technology has enabled with a technological solution—hire a Mobile Operations Manager into the IT department to oversee the increasing use of virtual employees, virtual teams, and the mobile technologiesthat allow this to happen.

In reality, the answer isn’t so simple. In the last 20 years, since the evolution of mobile technologies (or technologies that enable mobility), the boundaries between formal work, leisure, and family responsibilities and celebrations have blurred. In other words, mobile devices and mobile technologies are no longer just a part of the work life. These devices and technologies are ingrained into our everyday life and are part of our everyday culture. Because of that, companies need to think simply beyond a Mobile Operations Manager who resides in the IT department, and think more about managing mobility from a broader perspective as part of the culture of the entire company.

Fortune 500 companies are at an inflection point. Call it the corner of mobility and culture. Mobility will change the very fabric of how employees interact with each other, partners, vendors, and customers. Leave mobility unmanaged or try to manage this from a narrow focus such as IT or HR, and the likely result will be a frustrated workforce which will serve to reinforce generational divides among workers.

As an example, in a recent conversation with a Fortune 500 CIO, it was mentioned that “baby boomer workers think that our younger workers are lazy, because they sit on couches with their laptops, and they forward their office phones to their mobile phones.” By leaving this unmanaged from a larger business and cultural perspective, it will create a divide between experienced and inexperienced workers. For the past few years, Generation X, Y, Z and Millennial workers, who have grown up with mobile and/or wireless technology, have been entering the workforce. These younger workers not only use technology, but are also very willing to find new uses for technology. Mobility is as essential to younger workers as a nice fountain pen was to many baby boomers.

Bottom line: Mobility is simply not just about technology anymore. Rather than hiring a Mobile Operations Manager in the IT department, it would be better to assemble a task force of 3-4 executives and 2-3 employees from various departments. The task force should have an appointed leader and be accountable to the CEO. This approach should prevent companies from falling into the trap of thinking that mobility is about technology, and instead help companies deal with the fact that mobility is all about culture and needs to be embedded into the fabric of a company. 360

Scott Archibald is a Managing Director at Bender Consulting. You can follow Scott on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Scott_Archibald

Counterpoint: Mobile Operations Managers—HR’s New Hiring Priority
Wireless devices are the primary means of communication, and the business world is incorporating a variety of technologies into its daily workflow. Moving to a wireless, information-on-demand model takes some planning. To ensure consistent and secure wireless connectivity for all employees and staff, businesses could benefit greatly from hiring a Mobile Operations Manager (MOM) to oversee the plethora of wireless devices used throughout the enterprise. The responsibilities addressed by today’s standard IT role need to evolve due to the large deployment and use of mobile communications. In most cases, expansion of existing IT skills would include knowledge competency in the following areas:

• Applications — This is the domain where most of the effort will be focused in order to keep up with the mobile workforce and support the applications each of the devices would require. The IT talent specialization would need to support devices ranging from BlackBerry Enterprise Server to iPhone to MSExchange integration, and to WAP support and development standards. Depending on the number of mobile users and devices, this could be most taxing to the IT department.

• Cable Types and Usage — Most wireless devices require significant cable plant requirements. For example, some in-building technologies may require installation of hard-line coaxial cable while others rely on Cat5e or Cat6 for horizontal runs. An increased demand for single mode fiber may occur, as well, depending on the specific technologies deployed.

• Layer 2-4 Network Engineering — Most enterprise network engineers are already dealing with a broad range of applications and client types, both wired and wireless. However, application requirements must be evaluated against the network infrastructure. Depending on the need, necessary adjustments should be made to enable seamless mobility.

It is imperative for the Mobile Operations Manager to maintain open communications throughout the organization—between application developers, new technology teams, and the ever-valuable power users

This will ensure that network strategy is in synch with the future demands of the organization.

Division of Tasks—Who should be responsible for what?
Network engineers must have capacity planning in place to accommodate all the specific needs of the mobile workforce. Bandwidth demands may start to shift from one part of the network to another as more users embrace mobile devices. Application developers need to understand which apps can be effective on mobile platforms and which are best suited for the desktop.

Organizations should use a core team approach where stakeholders from across the enterprise can work together to prioritize mobile application development efforts.

Systems administrators and NOC staff should plan on monitoring the system’s growth and evaluating response protocols in light of increased mobility.

The mobile workplace will increasingly rely on mobile computing with voice as one of the applications; this is the domain of enterprise IT. The Mobile Operations Manager could evaluate the potential of fixed mobile convergence and least-cost call routing between the cellular and 802.11 networks. An organization can successfully achieve this through integration of multiple disciplines encompassed by the modern IT team.

In conclusion, the mobile workforce has indeed arrived and has become a productive and valued part of any organization. The onus is upon the IT department to accommodate the necessary network components, applications, and security software to provide the proper support for the ever-expanding mobile workforce. Adding the specialized Mobile Operations Manager is a step in the right direction and an evolution serving the business needs of any organization. 360

Rich Noonan is the Systems Engineer at Cellular Specialties, Inc. (www.cellularspecialties.com).