Mobile Clinic: keeping mobile workforce management consistent

Michael Lawrence, head of enablers, Orange Business Services UK
www.orange.co.uk

The broader deployment of mobile devices and the replacement of desktops with laptops is something most IT departments have learnt to address in recent years. The larger community of mobile users within corporates has increased demands on the IT function which has to secure the device, data and connection to the network, keeping control of corporate assets while simultaneously supporting user productivity. At the same time, the plethora of operating systems, standards, network protocols and software makes managing mobile devices and services increasingly difficult.

Orange works with a number of third parties to ease the headache and, in doing so, can share advice on how to best keep control of and manage the many new ways that corporate information is accessed. The key word is balance; ensuring a good user experience yet keeping control and this is perhaps the key challenge that IT departments face. Part of this challenge is getting the right balance between resource-hungry applications and functionality, especially when deployed to smaller devices where the impact on battery life is greater. Managing functions like the address book, virus protection, policy setting and applications deployment centrally is the way forward in most cases and balancing the controls that an organisation wants to put in place with ensuring a good experience for the user is also important. Too many policies and controls will lead to a frustrating experience that defeats the purpose of mobile enablement and drives end users to seek ways around them.

Cost control always has been and always will be a key consideration for any company, large or small. The ability to get mobile users’ own applications signed and deployed over the air causes minimum disruption and helps manage costs. End users can be set up much quicker as company-specific settings can be applied centrally very quickly to one or many devices. IT departments must also be in a position to diagnose faults quickly and centrally to ensure that users have continual access to corporate information while out of the office. The reduction in user intervention will mean less trips into offices to get the latest software/applications loaded and users will have less down time, as the device is more easily fixed while they are out of the office.

The ability to set up different groups of users also makes life a lot simpler for the IT department. For example, a sales department with a specialist application can be hosted on a particular server along with a finance department with a stocks/shares application. This enables the IT manager to support these users centrally but differentiate their device/application and settings templates.

Finally, it's easy to forget that policies and procedures are imposed by organisations on individuals. The recipients of the rules must understand why they exist and what impact any breaches may have on their organisation and themselves. The technology is there to support policies and procedures and must, therefore, be as invisible to the end user as possible. The opportunities for improving efficiencies, improving end-users' experiences and reducing total cost of ownership are there for the taking if the balance of control and autonomy can be achieved.