Mobility has to be one of the most talked about technology trends in business, and for good reason. Consumers use mobile. They use it for shopping, banking, checking the weather, for driving directions; and today, they use it for productivity. Let’s take a look at the rise in mobility and how small businesses can use it to their benefit.
Employee Expectations
Mobility is becoming a critical component for small and medium-sized businesses largely due to the demand brought by employees. Today, where most tasks can be completed with the use of a smartphone, it creates the kind of scenario that gets employees asking, “Why not?”
For the business, that has more responsibilities, that sentiment can be shared, but only after all elements are considered thoroughly. This mostly has to do with data security. Once data security can be maintained, mobility can certainly become a major asset.
What You Need to Consider
There are several considerations that a business owner should make before trusting in an enhancement of mobility. Here are three:
Don’t Get Ahead of Yourself
To get the most out of your business’ mobility, you need to set goals; and it will do you good to be as realistic as possible. If you try to implement a whole mobile policy and give people carte blanche with their mobile devices, you could run into problems. The best practice is to look for issues that mobility could help alleviate, and tailor your strategies to them. Most businesses that extend their mobility focus on customer service and collaboration, but with more business tools creating mobile apps than ever before, more is possible today. Start simple so you can ensure that you can maintain control over mobile data flows.
Maintain Security
When your employees access your network via mobile devices, you need to secure it, preferably with multiple layers. You need to require password authentication, while also placing solutions in place to encrypt the files. More than that, you should find encrypted solutions to protect data from being intercepted as not all mobile networks are as reliable as a business may need.
You will also want to maintain data backup platforms and mobile management systems to ensure that you not only have control over your business’ data, but also to mitigate any negative situations surrounding data mobility you may encounter.
Make Sure Your Business is Mobile-Ready
It is important that you understand how mobility is being used. Can your staff access locally-hosted data? Do you use cloud systems that need to be set up for multi-factor authentication? Does your IT administrator have the tools in place to address any mobility-related issues? To be able to take advantage of mobility, you need to have a setup that will allow you to.
The IT professionals at Bevlin can help outfit your business with the tools and expertise you need to allow for expanded mobility. Call our experts today at 781-679-0172 to learn more.
