Unisys NZ: How to be a mobile trendsetter – again...

Need some pointers on walking the talk when it comes to mobile? Steve Griffin, country manager, Unisys New Zealand offers some pointers for you – and your customers.

Once global leaders in enabling workplace mobility, New Zealand businesses have fallen behind the US and South American nations.

New global enterprise mobility research from Unisys shows that almost 60% of Kiwi businesses now sit at the lower end of the mobile maturity scale, bereft of any strategy on the use of mobile devices in the workplace.

Our organisations are twice as likely as the global average to rate themselves as having no mobility policies or governance.

Yet once we were mobile trendsetters. We exceeded 100% mobile penetration ahead of Australia according to IDC, and in 2010 the majority of Kiwis (96%) used at least one BYO device for work purposes according to the Unisys Consumerisation of IT research 2010 conducted by IDC.

The latest global study of 450 business and IT decision makers reveals that a small but growing segment of companies view themselves as being mobility mature – the 'Mobile Trendsetters'.

They use mobile-enabling enterprise applications to create new revenue streams, improve productivity and lower customer acquisition costs.

Mobile Trendsetters identify CRM, sales and customer service as the business processes that have benefited most from mobility.

In contrast, in New Zealand a whopping 86% described 'anywhere/anytime availability' as the key driver, identifying internal operations like HR, finance and IT as the processes that benefit.

With all due respect, it sounds as if the primary purpose of mobility is to enable employees to work from home, which may be great for morale, but does little to improve productivity or create new revenue streams.

Mobile to the core

Bringing mobile to the core of your business strategy empowers a company's staff to solve customers’ problems smarter and faster while delivering exceptional service. So how do you become a Mobile Trendsetter?

People - Talk to your people to find out how and where they see mobility improving business operations. Use their insights to understand how IT can better support them.

Business, not IT, must drive the development of mobile-enabled applications.

Strategy and governance - Develop your strategy to focus on the areas that drive growth and productivity like sales and customer relations.

Security - Implement smarter policies around role and location– based access, use technology tools to enforce, and educate employees on security.

Measurement - Talk to your customers about the improvements they experience in response to your mobile focused strategy. Talk to your own people to find out what what’s working for them and what needs improving. Measure the ROI to determine your next steps.

Start small. Grow fast - Mobile success doesn’t mean costly rewrites or arduous development projects. It can begin with small exploratory pilots to mobilise key productivity applications.

By taking a lead from the Mobile Trendsetters, New Zealand organisations can again show the rest of the world how mobility can transform businesses for greater productivity and revenue growth.