It’s now the norm to see people on their mobile devices everywhere, for business and also for personal use. With companies and people becoming increasingly connected, mobile devices allow for ease of access. Customers are also becoming more mobile-oriented. They perform website searches, place orders and pay for things with their phones.
A March 2019 survey of adult Canadian internet users found that 46% of respondents said they used a mobile phone to make online purchases.
In 2013, the AT&T Small Business Technology Poll reported that 85% of small businesses now use some kind of smartphone device.
Today we’ll explore how organizations are finding success by leveraging mobile, and what to do to properly manage these devices.
How businesses are using mobile devices in their organization
By Integrating Mobile Apps as Management Tools
Mobile apps help to ensure your employees have all the information they need right at their fingertips. Integrating project management apps such as Asana or Microsoft Office 365 lets employees view deadlines and priorities at any time and from anywhere. The team easily checks off completed items, allowing management to see the progress made on each task.
To Improve Communication Tactics
Integrating apps which allow email accounts and calendars to be accessed through a mobile device helps to create an efficient, time sensitive workflow. Apps like Slack or Microsoft Teams allow for easy communication efforts across teams, including management. With more employees working remotely, these apps are an integral part to the functionality of a team.
For Digital Documentation
The days of having to print and fax are over! Now businesses are incorporating technology that allows users to easily fill out forms on an iPhone or iPad. After signing, the application sends the forms electronically to the right person at the click of a button. A variety of industries already use this technology, including healthcare, legal, retail and the financial.
Some examples of these types of programs are:
As Mobile Payment Options
Mobile payments can now take place digitally, through your mobile device. We make contactless payments at a point of sale by simply “tapping” your credit or debit card. Now, the technology has advanced so that users can tap their phone to make the payment through the credit card in their mobile wallet. Good examples of this are Apple Pay and Square. These tools can play a large role in the overall customer experience, especially in retail environments and the service industry.
Managing mobile devices effectively
In order to effectively use mobile devices within your organization, it is important to appropriately manage the devices, called Mobile Device Management (MDM). At SupportMyMac, we primarily use Jamf as our MDM tool. This helps ensure that all mobile devices are working efficiently and securely.
Four key steps to consider when implementing mobile devices for business
- Set up & Configuration: At this stage, you already have all your mobile devices and they are ready to start being used! The first thing that needs to be done is to get logged in and connected to the Wi-Fi. Through the MDM tool this can be done quickly and consistently across all devices.
- Inventory: There are hardware, software and security configuration details to collect and store from each mobile device. Using an MDM tool, we can automatically collect this information from each device.
- Manage: There will most likely be specific apps that you want on every device. You can easily deploy them with an MDM. As your employees change or as you integrate new apps into your workflow, this can all easily be reassigned through the MDM tool.
- Protect: Implementing mobile devices has many benefits but at the end of the day it is another device that holds sensitive information about your organization. A MDM tool will secure sensitive data, enforcing passwords and remote locks of the devices. As an example, if an employee leaves their work phone at a jobsite, through the MDM tool you can remotely lock the phone so no one has access to any information if its found.
Organizations are continuing to learn new ways to adapt mobile devices into their workflow to improve efficiencies, their communication and their services to their customers.
You might be interested in a case study about Ottawa non-profit Actua that’s using iPads in their programs across Canada using Jamf.