How mobile computing changed the rules of engagement
The consumption habits of staff, partners and customers are fundamentally shifting. This is more than computing by other means. And it takes some planning.
According to EasyJet CIO Trevor Didcock “an airline is totally underpinned by technology” and you can make a pretty compelling case that low-cost carriers like his could barely exist without mobile computing.
From ruggerdised devices that scan boarding cards to mobile apps that sell tickets, the prices of which respond to real-time metrics; from WiFi-based systems that allow ground staff to take payments for oversized bags or to upsell seats, to iPad-based charting apps for pilots, these are just a few examples of how mobile is at the heart of EasyJet’s business both front and backend. Personal productivity tools come in the shape of the BlackBerry phones, selected before other mobile providers could offer similar security. In a recent interview with Computing, Didcock said: “We’ve got to the stage now where we’re at 95 per cent online check-in, so we can use mobile devices to queue-bust, effectively, so very few people have to come to us to check-in at the airport.”
The irony of a technology designed to enable virtual communication across the globe underpinning an airline that takes people on physical journeys should be lost on no-one.
Ever increasing customer-driven demand for these mobile channels make their own demands at the back end. For example, it takes a disproportionate amount of infrastructure to support a server call from 3G than it would from wider pipe.
Meanwhile, supporting a growing mobile workforce asks further questions of the IT department. In a valuable survey of 1,800 enterprise employees in the UK, Germany, China, India and Australia by audio communications company Plantronics, the mobility of today’s knowledge-based workforce becomes clear. Accordingly, 90 per cent of respondents stated that they spend at least some time working off site with 17 per cent spending more than half their time away from base.
“Telecommunications and flexible schedules have transformed ‘office’ from a fixed place to a state of mind,” the accompanying white paper reads.
The survey also throws up some seemingly counter intuitive results. Consider that in this mobile revolution, email (83 per cent) and telephone (81 per cent) rate highest as contributing most to productivity at work. As the white paper notes (reflecting something we have talked about many times on this blog), “there is no Betamax-style extinctions. New tools are instead partnering productively with the tried-and-true ways of conversing and collaborating.” But consider too, that an increasing amount of that email interaction will be on the move and that mobile, not fixed line, is becoming the phone of choice. The reality is this: mobile computing is changing the consumption habits (time, duration and location) of your staff, your partners and your customers. This is more than computing by other means. And it takes some planning.
Mobile device management is just one example. As EasyJet’s Didcock reflects: “The principal mechanism is similar to our new desktop environment: we will test whether somebody has a password enabled, and we’ll test a version of anti-virus, but that’s as far as we go. So we do need a proper mobile device management policy really, and that’s what we’re working on.”
Sources / links: [1] http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/interview/2205791/easy-does-it-an-interview-with-easyjets-trevor-didcock [2] http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/feature/2285080/cio-interview-how-easyjet-supports-mobility-and-big-data-on-a-small-budget [3] http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/news/dominos-readies-nationwide-nfc-summer-campaign/4007207.article [4] http://www.plantronics.com/us/howwework/
- See more Insight UK posts at: http://blog.insight.com