The traditional, office-based work environment of white-collar workers is already a fully digital domain, with functions from accounting to marketing supported by mature, highly efficient software applications. Now, companies are leaning into mobile technology to support their deskless workforce, creating powerful changes in the nature of work outside the office. More than 80% of the world’s workforce have deskless jobs, yet corporations allocate less than 1% of their software resources to supporting these employees. But that is changing fast. Today’s innovative companies are constructing competitive advantages with enterprise-level mobile solutions for applications that range from ticketing to equipment maintenance, healthcare reporting to Point-of-Sale transactions.
COVID-19 Changed the Narrative
The global pandemic forced fundamental changes to the nature of work. Both the nation as a whole and individual companies realized how much they relied on deskless, essential workers. The pandemic was also a stress test for enterprises, as they struggled to support deskless workers with productive digital technology. Companies had to accelerate developing new systems for these essential employees, sometimes before they were completely ready to do so. Now, many decision-makers are reflecting critically on this digital transformation, seeing it as not just a pandemic response but as crucial to shaping future business opportunities. They recognize that field employees are often the engine that drives expansion by enhancing efficiency, safety, quality and the overall customer experience. To maximize all these positive possibilities, leaders are shifting to a new mentality, looking for ways to leverage technology that accomplishes more work, faster, by empowering their remote and deskless workers.
Read more: 6 stats that show the future of deskless work is digital.
Digital Transformation and Managing Mobility
Digital transformation and mobility management go hand in hand. Experience shows that a deskless workforce cannot successfully use digital technology without a comprehensive approach to managing devices, mobile applications and data access. The real benefit of mobile technology is the ability to empower workers with the tools they need whenever and wherever they need them. This translates into selecting a device management solution that solves for specific business units, departments, and work task functions. For example, the mobile device needs of a remote IT support specialist are clearly different from the needs of a maintenance technician or a delivery driver. As they consider how best to manage mobile technology and usage across the workplace, businesses should look for solutions that can adapt to the changing needs of the organization, enforcing new or updated mobile use policies as business processes move to digital platforms.
Looking to the Future
As 2022 unfolds, business leaders should implement a comprehensive audit of their current mobile management practices and usage policies. The end goal is both an MDM, mobile device management, solution and usage policies that are centered on enabling efficient and productive mobile device usage for all the roles, including the deskless ones, within an enterprise. A realistic audit will deliver an unvarnished assessment of pandemic-driven technology responses, highlighting what worked, what didn’t, and what can be adapted to strengthen future solutions and policies.
Change is Difficult but Inevitable
The COVID-19 pandemic increased the already rapid pace of digital transformation initiatives for the deskless workforce. Enterprises are steadily increasing their investments in technology that promises to support and empower deskless workers. However, these investments are not without risk and they must be thought out and intentional. Merely enacting a change initiative isn’t enough to have a successful Digital Transformation; it takes careful planning, unified leadership, and ongoing management. Developing a flexible mobile device policy is a good first step, a policy focused on deskless employee productivity, safety, and corporate data integrity. Then that policy needs robust management from a technology standpoint. The good news is that TRUCE Software has the enforcement solution for the deskless workforce. Learn more in our eBook: “Context is Everything: Embrace the Benefits of Mobility, Without Sweating the Risks”.