Forrester’s TJ Keitt recently provided a useful report, Demystifying The Mobile Workforce. This is an increasingly important topic as two-thirds of the information workforce already work remotely, according to Forrester data. With the adoption of tablets such as the iPad and the proliferation of smart phones in the enterprise, that number figures to grow significantly. It is a matter of when, not whether that mobile devices exceed desktops.
In this new research, Forrester defines the five types of information workers based on its data and provides a template for provisioning mobile resources to these employees. Forrester believes that IT can no longer take a one-size-fits-all approach to workforce technologies and must provision mobile and other information technologies based upon workforce segmentation. Instead of force fitting mobile technologies into an overall workforce framework, “ontent and collaboration professionals now must have a mobile-first mindset when designing workplace policies,” according to the report
“The bottom line is that if businesses are to smartly plan for and provision a mobile workforce, they need to have a firm grasp of what the issues are related to these workers, TJ Keitt, wrote in his post on the report, "Anywhere, Anytime" Work Means IT Must Provide The Right Technology, To The Right Person, At The Right Time.
The report provides data to support the five types of information workers and to demonstrate their technology preferences. The five types include: Back-Office Employees comprising 34% of the workforce: Hyper-Mobile Professionals constituting 33% of the workforce, Connected Consultants covering 16% of the workforce, Part-Time Telecommuters comprising 11% of the workforce, and Remote-Based Technicians. Who represent 5% of the workforce. The report provides a matrix of communication use by each of these five types with some differences.
Each of the five types of users requires a somewhat different approach. The report suggests that we start by mapping use cases to workers’ responsibilities. Then assess the business process changes needed to encourage adoption as well as tap power users to help drive mobile adoption. You also need to provide training to workers who have not been fast adopters. It also encourages organizations to streamline the number of devices workers use and, at the same time, extend mobile support to a broader set of workers.
There are a lot of useful suggestions in this report for what is a relatively new field. At the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston there was a mobile track for the first time. Here is on example session: My 2011 Enterprise 2.0 Conference Notes: Got Strategy? How to Capitalize on the Mobile Revolution.
If you are in the process of developing a mobile strategy I recommend this report.
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