Everything your CEO & CFO need to know in order to launch a mobile deployment project
A CEO or CFO should know everything about the inner workings of their company and, more often than not, corporate business decisions that have a large impact will need to be signed off by heads of departments, followed by the CEO or CFO.
In order to give senior management teams and directors the utmost confidence that your mobile device deployment plan will lead to company growth, you must propose a comprehensive management plan. Each part of the plan must address the problems that this new mobile technology will solve, and how those solutions will ultimately lead back to increased ROI or increased cost savings for the company.
To get you started we have put together some positive ideas that could be considered as part of your management plan for a mobile device rollout below:
Improved communication: A mobile device deployment will improve communication between departments and employees, and overall will save money as efficiencies are implemented. In a study facilitated by LocknCharge, respondents’ remarked that one of their primary objectives was to foster better communication between employees and customers. This reinforces not only the idea that mobilisation can benefit an organisation internally and externally, by helping employees and customers connect more easily with each other, but bridges the gap by creating seamless interactions and retaining customers.
Faster transaction processing and better customer service: Salespeople and field agents will be able to process transactions more quickly and be able to pull up important client information at the touch of a button. Mobile devices help field reps provide better service and lead to a higher customer retention rate, something that is imperative to generating more profit. Faster transaction processing is a major contributor to the push toward mobilisation. Devices like tablets and smartphones make it easier for employees to work remotely from anywhere, increasing productivity and responsiveness. Streamlining processes to eliminate extra overheads also seeks to remove unnecessary variables that can be attributed with employees, such as extra office space and travel expenses.
Furthermore, organisations can leverage mobile devices to gather data to uncover trends, optimise operations, assure compliance, track customer buying behaviour, and empower their entire project. Ultimately, they can leverage data to generate revenue – and data is extremely valuable. If that data is inaccurate, it can lead organisations to wrong conclusions, such as miscommunicating with customers, developing products that aren’t warranted or pricing products in a way that is unsustainable. Accurate data is vital to running a smooth operation and is a competitive advantage.
Eliminating manual paper processes: By developing a mobile device plan, your company can eliminate manual paper processes. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study, estimates suggest organisations that “going paperless” can save up to ten times their paper cost by also reducing the cost of printing, toner, storage, labour, postage, and disposal.
Office waste reportedly costs UK business £15bn per year. And with most (if not all) European countries striving to reduce waste in general, this is a huge benefit. The European paper industry has already reduced carbon emissions by 26% since 2005, (now accounting for less than 1% of EU GHG emissions), reduced energy consumption by 11%, while increased the share of renewable energies to almost 60% of final energy. The industry delivered a 72.5% paper recycling rate, (making the EU the best performing region in the world).
If mobile devices are leveraged to eliminate much of that manual document processing, significant cost savings can be realised. PricewaterhouseCoopers reports that the amount of data that businesses typically produce increases 65% annually, and that professionals can spend up to half their working hours looking for the information they need simply to do their jobs. Electronic processes deployed via mobile devices can mean greater productivity.
Improved efficiencies: Improved efficiencies leads to more productive employees. It’s no secret that mobile devices can increase employee productivity; however, if the devices are not charged and ready to use at all times, they can actually have the opposite effect. Having charged mobile devices leads to increased productivity in the workplace and can produce a significantly better customer experience (imagine the additional benefits you can offer a customer via a mobile device). You might also be surprised to know that 73% of organisations fail to plan how they’ll centrally charge their devices; it’s important that employees can rely on devices that the company has invested in.
How to avoid problems with mobile device rollouts
Like any new venture, there are a few problems that can surface with a mobile device rollout:
Security and data safety: When you invest in a mobile device plan, the last thing you want is for those devices to go missing. Protecting your investment protects your budget and keeps your business on track to hit its goals. Security is absolutely imperative when rolling out a mobile deployment plan. At the end of the day, CEOs and CFOs are likely responsible for the security of customer data and the catastrophic consequences that can ensue should a company suffer a large data breach. As many companies have learned the hard way, losing customers’ data and personal information can cost thousands, if not millions of pounds both in fines and damaged reputation.
According to Ponemon Institute’s 2017 “Cost of Data Breach Study: United Kingdom”, data breaches cost UK organisations an average of £2.48 million, and those costs include everything from business disruption and revenue loss to loss of a company’s reputation. It can also include legal costs from law suits.
2017 saw more data exposed in the first six months of the year (1.9 billion records) than in the whole of 2016 (1.37 billion records). With cyber-attacks becoming more sophisticated and data breaches becoming a common occurrence, this trend is likely to continue.
When a CEO or CFO makes the decision to launch a mobile device programme, they need to be confident with the steps they take to make it successful. If you are investing a large portion of your budget in portable technology, keeping it secure when not in use is the only option, because 41% of data breaches are caused by lost or stolen devices.
Remote access for employees: Another thing to know before you deploy a mobile device programme is exactly how you are going to manage employee access remotely. It is good to be upfront about which apps, websites and files will be available on your mobile device so that your IT department can ensure the perfect deployment plan. It is also important to think about which device features will be turned on or off; for example, you might want to have all cameras or microphones turned off on the devices while they’re on site so as to ensure there is no collection of sensitive data.
With GDPR regulations in force in Europe since May 2018, the law has changed. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) standardises data protection law across all 28 EU countries and imposes strict new rules on controlling and processing personally identifiable information.
Understanding what’s important to your CEO or CFO is key to positioning your plan in a way that will meet their goals and objectives, and getting ahead of potential issues will yield the best results towards the company’s goals.
Learn best practices for deploying mobile devices and discover the LocknCharge solutions that are right for your business–contact us to schedule a FREE, personalized live product demonstration today.
