Mobility is one of the pillars of the modern digital workplace. With smartphones, cloud services and always-on connectivity, employees can be as productive in the living room as they can be in the office.
The public sector has a lot to gain by embracing mobility and enabling more flexible working for employees. Government bodies can improve efficiencies while lowering technology costs, paramount at a time of squeezed budgets and tight deadlines.
Crucially, using communications technology to facilitate mobile working is becoming increasingly standard within the modern workforce. People are knowledgeable about the possibilities new technology brings, and expect to take advantage of minimised travel time to help make the most of their working day. Providing employees with the tools to work remotely ensures access to the greatest pool of talent.
So how can government departments use technology to enable organisational mobility? Here are a few things to consider to give your employees greater flexibility.
Find the best mobile/landline solution for you
The best telephony solution for mobility is one that blurs the line between landline and mobile. Ideally, employees should have an overarching solution that spans devices, making sure that staying in contact is as easy and as automated as possible. For some workforces the best option may even be a pure mobile solution. Ultimately, every organisation and team will need to assess its own requirements and chose a style that works for everyone.
Implement a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy
The days of providing employees with a company phone are fading. Nowadays, people want to use their own smartphone for both work and personal use. Public sector organisations can look to implement a robust BYOD policy to accommodate this shift. Make sure you keep considerations around sensitive information at front of mind. To give true mobility, it’s important to ensure that any mobile solution must be configured to guarantee compliance and security across a number of devices.Build a ‘Cloud First’ digital transformation strategy
Mobile working practices are only possible if employees can access all of their essential applications seamlessly on any device. Someone working from home is not productive if they have to spend an hour trying to access the network through a VPN. Wherever possible, key applications should be migrated to cloud services configured to work on mobile, tablet and desktop. This means that employees can make use of critical tools and programs, no matter where they are.
Get data connectivity that can support mobile working
Data connectivity is the engine that drives mobility. It’s no good putting all of your applications in the cloud if your employees don���t have the bandwidth to use them, and it’s worth thinking a little larger than your installed infrastructure. It’s worth investigating investing in at least some of your workforce with mobile data plans, allowing them to connect to cloud services while on the move or at home.
In the emerging digital workplace, flexible working is rapidly becoming the expectation of employees. For the public sector to reduce costs, while maximising the productivity of an increasingly dispersed workforce, looking to technology that facilitates mobile working is a necessity.
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