Supporting the Mobile Workforce

By Courtney Macavinta

Many enterprises no longer require all employees to scramble through traffic to make the weekly Monday morning staff meeting at corporate headquarters. Instead, it's increasingly common for employees to patch into the meetings via cell phones or Web-based video conferencing tools.

Technology has enabled more organizations to have a dispersed and independent workforce. Workers in a growing number of enterprises can now telecommute, work out of smaller satellite offices, or connect into headquarters from the road, where they are meeting with partners, customers or vendors.

In 2007, 89% of the top U.S. companies offer telecommuting, and 67% of all workers use mobile or wireless computing, according to a May mobile workforce report by Insight Research Corporation. Meanwhile, only 9% of employees worked at headquarters, according to the report, which also estimated that U.S. service revenues driven by mobile workforce applications will grow from $9.1 billion in 2007 to nearly $13 billion in 2012.

With this increased mobility, however, come considerable challenges for CIOs, including how to provide reliable tech support for mobile employees, how to manage costs, and how to manage personal and professional use of mobile devices when the data exchanged has to comply with strict regulations.

"And it's only going to become more complex," says Bob Rosenberg, president of Insight Research.

To support the mobile workforce in a cost-effective way, CIOs can take the following steps:

1. Institute a comprehensive mobile policy  To control costs and provide an adequate tech support infrastructure for mobile workers, CIOs need to work with fellow executives to establish an enterprise-wide mobile policy. According to Forrester Research's January 2007 report, Defining A Mobile Enterprise Policy, a successful mobile policy has three key components:  

• A clear framework that outlines which devices and software are supported
• Security guidelines to protect data sent and received via mobile devices
• A plan for how IT will manage and support devices including providing a remote help desk

The mobile policy also needs to have other provisions, such as addressing any data archiving required by regulations. In addition, it should have a strategy to manage remote workers and ensure that IT support helps maintain productivity, according to Craig J. Mathias, a principal with Farpoint Group, an advisory firm specializing in wireless communications and mobile computing.

"The management philosophy will have the biggest impact on cost," Mathias says. "There has to be a high degree of trust between the company and the worker for any mobile strategy to work."

2. Provide solid support  The promise of increased productivity and cost savings that come with a more mobile workforce can only be realized if employees have reliable remote tech support. In most organizations, the CIO needs to make the case for investing in a strong remote support strategy, says Brian Regan, senior vice president of the nonprofit organization CMO Council, which released a study with BP Forum that found that 92% of companies directly linked the quality of IT support for mobile workers with business performance.

"Your mobile workers are your customers in a sense," he says.

Regan recommends that CIOs investigate all options, including: improving the quality and availability of the internal help desk, outsourcing support so it's available 24/7, and using remote-desktop software that enables IT to automate the maintenance of remote devices.

"Automation also helps with compliance," he adds.

3. Consider the total cost of ownership (TCO)  Mobile phones, smart phones that double as PDAs, laptops, WiFi -- the mobile workforce needs several devices and services to stay plugged in and productive. Mathias recommends that CIOs factor into their budget the replacement of mobile devices, which have a higher chance of getting broken or lost. He also says organizations should consider the network communication costs and the expense of data backup or lost data when devices are damaged or disappear.

For starters, CIOs can better manage the TCO of supporting a mobile workforce by not allowing employees to use personal devices or service.

"We recommend that the devices be an enterprise purchase and that the company own it, operate it, and manage it," Mathias says. "And employees need to sign a security and acceptable use policy for any corporate-issued equipment."

However, Mathias says CIOs and other C-level executives should primarily focus on their mobile workforce management philosophy versus just honing in on the cost of the equipment.

"The equipment is the least valuable element in any mobile strategy: devices and computers are cheap, people are expensive," he says. "So we have to have a communications and mobile strategy that optimizes their productivity. Ultimately, that is what IT is trying to do."

Courtney Macavinta is a Silicon Valley-based business and technology writer. Her articles have appeared in CNET News, Business 2.0, Red Herring, Wired News, and The Washington Post. She also is managing editor of  the online program The Online Family.