Adopting enterprise mobility: Advancing the discussion from theoretical to implementable

Abstract

The idea of mobility or telecommuting has gained significant momentum, particularly over the past decade. In order to get the attention of management, the first advocates of the idea of working from an offsite location (usually in the home) armed themselves with a ready toolkit of benefits that could be used to make the notion of mobility sellable. They were often quick to point out an array of benefits, including better work/life balance, compressed commute times, better resilience in terms of business continuity, and attraction and retention of workers. Early proponents created a value proposition generally based upon these sound bites but, in retrospect, the very nature of these benefits was largely qualitative and tended to frame the discussion in terms of something that seemed theoretical, which, if one day attained, would make for a better workplace. In this sense, they had the air of those who used to marvel at the man wearing a back-mounted jet pack at a world exposition, thinking that, if all the pieces somehow come together one day, they would be able to fly. Bridging the divide between something that remains theoretical and something that can actually be implemented is always the challenge. Mobility has in fact reached a point where that divide, for the most part, has been crossed, and this is largely due to a technological platform that has exponentially exploded over a relatively short period. It was only a few years ago that IT help desks were largely tasked with trouble-shooting issues associated with either a laptop computer or a BlackBerry. Today the range of devices, not to mention the connectivity infrastructure, has exploded. This paper advances the notion of mobility to the point where those technologies are described and a practical implantation toolkit is offered.