Is Enterprise Mobility the Simplest Way to Digital Transformation? – DZone Mobile

Digital transformation was originally meant for the tech industry, but slowly crept into the business world and now is a sought-after concept for any organization’s leadership. Digital transformation has come a long way from its initial days. It is truly a global entity. But how do enterprises truly progress towards digital transformation? Is enterprise mobility the best step towards digital transformation?

One of the buzzwords that are going around various industries is disruption! Enterprises particularly fear this. In our previous blog, we discussed the challenges enterprises face regarding digital transformation.

In this blog, we detail challenges that are specific to enterprises, such as:

As enterprises have been described earlier, they are like ships that move at a gradual pace. Although their pace is slower, their focus is on reaching the destination without losing any of its crew or cargo. With this size and stability comes a unique trade-off – they are slow in adopting new technologies and follow traditional processes.

Because of these, enterprises don’t adapt to the industry changes quickly and end up losing a good part of their market share. Earlier, change was linear with a specific beginning and an end. However today, the scenario is completely different. The world that’s coined for this rapid change is none other than disruption!

Digital transformation has fundamentally revolutionized the way we work, communicate, spend time, and consume data. It affects our lives in a ubiquitous way. Due to this new paradigm, organizations are compelled to react. Else they would not survive for long. While some industries are not at risk of digital transformation, as they constantly evolve, other industries need to rapidly undertake this process.

In the current digital era, an organization’s leadership should first grasp that they are under threat and quickly formulate the required changes. But before they do that, they should be able to convey their aim or vision effectively to their peers and/or colleagues.

Organizations need to shift mindsets, as their customers already have!

Right now, digital transformation for enterprises is a necessity. They are already at a tipping point as their consumers are starting to choose other better options. Customers have discovered new brands, new entertainments, and new ways to consume data. Customers’ aspirations should be the center of an enterprises’ attention. While enterprises have followed the agile methodology for many years, it would not be sufficient to satisfy customers of the digital era. Enterprises need to radically shift their mindset.

With newer parameters such as machine learning, internet of things, big data, and automation, the need for innovation from industry leaders is high. They need to have new and improved business models, inclusive client relationships, and creative management techniques to succeed. For them, innovation is needed to stay ahead of the competition. This is to safeguard themselves, because in the digital era, even an organization that is not in a specific line of work can disrupt any business.

How Should Enterprises Digitally Transform?

Enterprise mobility is the best step that enterprises can take to successfully digitally transform! Mobility empowers workforce to access work-related information regardless of their location, the device being used, or where the information they need is. With over 65% of the workforce in North America going mobile by 2020, the best bet for enterprises is going mobile.

Enterprise mobility enables employees to remain productive regardless of their presence in a physical office space. Enterprise/personal data containerization, network reliability, numerous device options, and simple interface provide employees an enhanced user experience, which will always lead to better productivity and a happier workforce.

Another component of enterprise mobility towards digital transformation is that it transforms user roles and empowers employees. Additionally, it engages employees to reimagine conventional business processes and create new processes while keeping new digital technologies in mind. This helps in automating workflows, easy collaboration, and integrating new technologies. All of this is rewarding for employees, which in turn pushes them to do more for the organization.

The Challenge

Lack of Usership

In a survey of about 200 executives across North America, only 17% reported that they were able to access their enterprise software using their smartphones or tablets. On a more global level, about 80% of enterprise employees report that they cannot access the enterprise software from a mobile device. Most of the executives that were surveyed were either business development executives or sales personnel, who are constantly on the field.

For such individuals, accessing accurate data is crucial in their line of work. They can give potential clients an update on their inventory, etc. Given that the traditional enterprise software does not perform well on smartphones, usership is only going to diminish.

One way of addressing this challenge is by updating the software and making it smartphone friendly. This increases usership and will be the first positive step towards digital transformation for an enterprise.

Maintenance technicians are another brilliant example of how enterprise mobility helps employees work better. As these technicians are always on the field, they need to constantly use a mobile device to communicate with each other and with the enterprise. As and when they finish working on a piece of equipment, they need to make a detailed entry into the maintenance history to mention which steps were taken to resolve the issue. Simultaneously, they would require information on spare part availability, and if the part isn’t available, request or order it in real time via their smartphones.

Traditionally, these technicians had to finish their work on a piece of equipment and go back to their corporate office and fill out a form with the details of their work. Given that this is a long and drawn out process, many of them did not feel compelled to do it, although their job required them to. In some cases when they did fill out these reports, they often forgot tiny details which had their own repercussions.

If enterprises have their own software or app that enables their on-field employees to fill information in real-time, it would help the enterprise as a whole.

In general, digital transformation is unique for each enterprise. However, mobility is a fundamental and specific technology that has a proven record. It helps modernize enterprises with its software architecture and is relatively easy to implement. Enterprises that are looking at digital transformation should focus on mobility first to successfully transition to the digital era. While many organizations are currently focusing on connecting devices with each other, the prudent feel that it is beneficial to connect people.

What do you think about this blog? Do you think enterprise mobility is the step forward for digital transformation? Let us know what you think by commenting below.