Your company has cell phones for its employees. Lots of them. You also have tablets. In the last few years, mobile computing services have become essential to everyday business operations. But are you getting all you can out of those tablets and smartphones? Is there more your company could be doing to ensure that everything is working as efficiently as possible?
Every company has wildly different needs. Smaller companies are more likely to ask employees to use their personal phones and tablets for work, while larger companies can often afford to give employees devices that are to be used mainly at the office. Regardless of if you have 50 employees or 500, it’s time to look into technology lifecycle management services.
Your mobile infrastructure should be making employees more productive, not less productive. The devices should also be secure; you don’t want one employee emailing another highly classified information on a unencrypted Internet connection. They should also be cost-efficient. Are you spending more than you’re saving on those fancy tablets?
It’s not fair to you or your employees to try to figure this stuff out on your own, either. Technology lifecycle management is a pretty new area of specialty. You’ll want to contract with a company who can offer solutions instead of creating new problems. If a managed services approach is right for your company, a place like Tangoe can help you make that a reality.
Mobile IT infrastructures have only gotten more complicated in recent years. It’s like a ball of yarn that keeps getting knottier every time you add another section. Many companies won’t realize just how bad things have gotten until the system suffers a critical injury. It’s much better to perform necessary maintenance on something now than wait for it to fall apart. Think of it like a lamp with a couple of cracks in it. Would you rather patch up those cracks now, or wait for more cracks to develop? With enough cracks, the lamp will stop functioning entirely. That’s not a good scenario for anyone.
If you’re trying to save money on mobile devices, the array of options available can be dizzying. You can call up one of the telecom giants and see if they offer corporate rates. If the price of all those phones still seems like a bit much, you can check out liquidation sales to see if anyone is offering a great deal on tablets or smartphones. Many liquidation specialists ship in merchandise via freight carriers, which means they have a ton of products coming in. These aren’t exactly small-time retailers we’re talking about here. Almost anything can be liquidated if the circumstances are right.
It seems like every office has at least one employee who fills up his company-issued tablet or smartphone with all sorts of extraneous files and apps. Many companies will look the other way if an employee installs, say, Tetris or Angry Birds on their tablet. That’s nice of them, although no company is required to do that. It becomes a much bigger issue if, say, Justin from Human Resources has Tinder and Grindr on his company phone (you’re from Human Resources, Justin; you should really know better than that). That can become a productivity issue as well as a security issue. It’s better to come up with a solid, detailed plan for dealing with some issues before they come up, rather than waiting and taking each situation on a case-by-case basis. Contact a company with experience in enterprise mobility management today. Consider it a form of insurance for the future of your company.
