Mobile office boosts productivity

Singapore – As business cycles become increasingly volatile and shorter, employee mobility becomes a key competitive advantage for companies wanting to boost productivity and profits.

To gain a greater business edge in an increasingly connected world, companies are investing in the new communication infrastructures such as PDAs and smartphones to empower their employees with a mobile work life.

Sandra Goh, business group director for Southeast Asia region of mobile communications business for Microsoft says mobility is especially important for “businesses in today's world of real-time, all-the-time transaction”.

Julia Smith, managing director of Hewitt Singapore, agrees. She says, “As our associates spend a lot of their time with our clients, and travelling to meet with clients around the region, the ability to access their emails and work anywhere, anytime is imperative.”

With companies embracing the concept of mobile working, Goh says the business world is looking at the emergence of the mobile information worker (MIW). She describes the MIW as a worker who requires information at his finger tips whilst on-the-go. This includes access to the internet, email, calendar and contacts, company documents and applications.

Yet as the workforce becomes increasingly mobile, there is a growing fear that employees’ work-life balance might be affected with the high usage of mobile devices. However Goh says otherwise. In fact, mobile technology will improve employee productivity instead.

Goh says, “If anything, we expect that mobility will help enhance that balance because now you can have your work while travelling in the train or waiting for a customer.”

As for technical problems or software issues that occur when employees use mobile technology off site, companies can be assured that the risk of leaked confidential information remains minimal.

“Security policies and software updates can be applied over the air, regardless of the users’ location or time of day,” says Goh. “If a device is lost or stolen, all data on the device can be remotely "wiped", ensuring the safety of company and personal information.”