Do You Know Your Mobility Culture?

I spent time with my Aunt recently. She is of a different generation; born in the 1930s. She dedicated her life to kids as a 1st grade teacher, and based on her life’s work she is very aware of the role that parental involvement plays in the development of healthy kids. If you remember Aunt Bee from the Andy Griffith show, you’ll sort of get the picture.

What does my dear, dear Aunt Lou have to do with business mobility you ask?

During a recent visit, she saw my smartphone. She shared a story of being in a restaurant and saw a family having dinner. During dinner the father checked his phone and was texting during the meal. She was appalled at the behavior as the man was distracted from the family dinner and wondered if there was such a thing as quality family time anymore or if people were too busy texting all the time.

I found myself somewhat defending the man’s actions. I was sharing with her the velocity of communication in today’s business environment and that there were likely co-workers or customers on the other end of the communication requiring his input and approval, possibly even in other timezones. As a father of 4 little kids with a full time career I empathized with the villain of her story. I told her that I feel being connected allows me to spend more time with my family as I’m no longer required to be tethered to my office desk to get work done.

This incident made me consider how organizations really utilize mobile technology, and the cultural expectations around their deployment. There clearly is a balance on how a mobile device impacts your workers. The plus is that they are always connected, but that’s obviously a double edged sword.

Is there such a thing as overly connected? Could it be that just as some companies force employees to take vacation time, we will see a time when some companies may be looking to implement mandated ‘disconnected time’ for their employees. But why is it that some people feel the pressure to be constantly accessible?

We all know that Enterprise Mobility is a game changer for business – that has a profound impact on your employees and the way they work inside and outside of business hours. But one key point which I have not seen discussed is how a company’s culture drives how employees use their devices.

As you embark on a project to mobilize your business processes, consider the fit into your company’s ‘mobility culture’. I define a company’s mobility culture as the unstated expectations of how employees work with devices they are provided. Also be aware, that there are likely many sub cultures within your organization. For example, the sales team may have a more frenetic pace of mobile communications than the finance department.

Your mobility culture is keenly driven by a number of items.

Here are a few key items to consider:

• Does executive leadership tend to respond to emails 24/7; seemingly within minutes of receipt?
• Are field service personnel on call after hours receiving automated call notices?
• Does your business operate with a tightly connected global team?
• Do people send out messages after 5pm, and then follow up messages before 8am the following day?
• Do your teams currently have mobile email, do they have mobile access to enterprise apps such as CRM, inventory and ERP – or is this a first rollout of smart devices?
• Does your overall company culture strike a balance between work & personal lives?

Only you can determine the proper mobility culture for your organization. You want to ensure that it’s supportive of your corporate goals and in line with the overall culture design of the company. If your company is engaged in supporting medical devices used in heart surgery or running a 24/7 limousine business you may have a very different culture than a company that is running a more standard 9am-5pm business operation.

When considering your mobility culture, consider your financial business objectives, your overall company culture, and just maybe some input from my Aunt Lou.

= Matt T

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Tags: Enterprise Mobility, Increase Customer Satisfaction, Matt Torgersen, Mobile Apps, Mobile Enterprise, Mobility Culture, Pragmatic Mobility