Mobile Futures Today: You May Be a Mobile Expert and Not Know It

As I interact with customers, partners and everybody else I notice that many of these interactions involve mobility (I actually do have conversations about other things too). The odd thing is that many people already have a very good understanding of “mobility” without realizing it. I’m usually credited with the mobility vision that we end up with but it isn’t just me that contributes to that vision.

I once had a coworker who made the statement, “If you are a customer of a cable TV company, you are an expert in field service…” I thought that was one of the strangest comments I’d ever heard. I couldn’t see how the two were related and more importantly, expert is a hugely overused term. His logic was that if you have ever had to call a cable company for service you know all you need to know about field service through that interaction. While you may be a victim of some shoddy cable company’s process you can’t claim to be an expert at anything (short of having the patience of a saint).

The same can be said about “mobility”. If you spend any time working out in the field, away from your desk, at a customer’s location or a wide array of other places you know a substantial amount of what you need to have a successful mobility approach. Here’s what I mean, if you were at a customer’s location and suddenly found yourself saying, ”I wish I had access to that system, information, order history, fill-in-the-blank,” you have the basis of your mobility needs. Anything that prevents you from being effective while you are away from your desk becomes a true mobility need.

When I interact with a customer much of what I do is “discover” what the customer’s needs are and put a plan together to address them. The easiest way for me to figure this out is to ask a bunch of people a whole lot of questions. The knowledge is there if you just ask. People already know where the challenges are but they haven’t made the leap to agreeing that these are legitimate mobility needs. They often assume that this issue only affects them. When pressed they are willing to take one for the team and give up on this item if there are larger concerns that should be addressed first. The problem is that anything that touches everybody is the highest priority.

Have you ever had to log into your company’s network and used a VPN client to connect? Compared to accessing other networks where VPN isn’t required you take a performance hit on your connectivity through the VPN. It’s a fact of life. You put up with it since it’s the “only access you have”. But what if there was a different way? A method that didn’t bring your connectivity speed to its knees? Wouldn’t you want to use that method? Have you asked your IT folks if it is possible? This happens with most e-mail systems regularly. The standard method is to connect your VPN client and then launch the same a-mail client you use in the office. What about web access? That usually doesn’t require a VPN and for most e-mail requirements gets you what you need faster.

The point of my rambling is that we are programmed to try to get along and fit in. We sometimes think that asking questions may make us look like a pest. The truth is that if it’s happening to you it is happening to EVERYBODY.  If you could help everybody wouldn’t you want to?

Don’t assume that your mobile challenges are isolated and only apply to you. Think about what you run into on a regular basis and assume that others are having similar experiences. Ask your coworkers about their experiences. Form a collective consciousness based on the information you exchange with your coworkers and see if you can help your company fix these problems.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked a service manager how their field folks are doing and received a glowing assessment about how swell things are. The answer is usually very different when you ask the field folks the same question. The field team has adapted their processes to accommodate the shortcomings of the current policies and procedures. I have yet to meet a manager that has no interest in helping their employees be successful (but I’ve never interviewed a politician so there’s still time). If they were aware of the challenges they would do whatever they could to fix them.

Stop suffering in silence and commit to making things better. You may find yourself leading a charge with an army of supporters behind you.

Tags: Brian Philbin, Business Mobility, Enterprise Mobility, Field Automation, Mobility - General