Client Advisory Board (CAB) Meeting Draws Attention to Growing Shift to Mobility
By Adam Sherlock, Director, CSC Life Sciences
The one constant in life is change, and in today’s world change is rapid. That’s been made abundantly clear in the workplace as we see a significant trend towards the adoption of mobile devices for business use. This was one of the topics of conversation during CSC’s September CAB meeting in Nashville, Tennessee.
During his opening address, CSC’s President and CEO Mike Lawrie commented that he never thought he would be a hardware vendor and it’s much the same for me. I have a laptop, an iPad, a Blackberry and a smart phone, and I use all of these to access work. The penetration of Apple devices in particular, such as the iPad, has been led "top down" in many organisations, indicating a shift in the consumption of mobile technology. Further, for “Generation Y" employees, the so-called "Millennials", mobile technology is the primary means by which they work and socialise. Mobility is therefore now integral to doing business.
An interesting trend that was raised during the CAB discussion was that of allowing employees to bring their own devices into the workplace and providing some IT support. Several CAB members noted their companies have been experimenting with this to good effect. As one CAB member put it, it’s the merger of one’s personal life with work life, allowing people to hold both in their hand all the time.
Work and Personal Life Collide
The merits of merging work and personal life might be up for debate but there’s no doubt productivity gain is a real benefit of mobility. And, given the demands of today’s workforce, it does lead to an improved work environment, better employee experience, and enhanced interaction.
But such mobile devices as iPhones or smartphones do have their limitations. For example, it would be difficult to read a complex regulatory document on an iPhone and sign off on it, though it may be possible to do that via a tablet or iPad. On the other hand, if you’re on the road and wanting a mobile device for simple tasks – keeping up with emails, perhaps opening a presentation, or updating an Excel file – a smartphone might be just what is needed.
In order for mobile to be used to its full potential, the approach needs to ensure applications are fit for purpose depending on what the device is really capable of doing such that individuals get the benefit of multi-device flexibility. Integral to this is having a better user interface because the reason people are moving to mobility is both ease of access and ease of use.
Mobility is an irreversible trend in our society and workplace. How we choose to adapt to it and adopt it in the workplace could be the differentiator in ensuring employee productivity and contentment, as well as collaboration and even innovation.