Mobile and cloud computing go together. It makes sense to include them in your IT strategy to ensure that using these technologies adds value to your business, helping you meet your goals and getting the best ROI from your IT activity and investments. Here are three reasons why you should include mobile and cloud computing in your IT strategy.
Read: IT Strategy Quick Start Guide
Your employees are already using mobile devices and cloud technologies for work. According to Pew Research, two-thirds of the American population own smartphones. They have brought their mobile habits over to their work lives and expect to have the same kind of access and connectivity for work that they have in their personal lives.
They are logging on to the web-based applications that they use to get their jobs done during the day on their PCs and their smartphones when they can’t be in the office. Employees are using file-sharing services to take work home. They want to be able to have their company email on their phones.
Including mobile and cloud in your IT strategy helps you to be intentional about how you help employees work effectively from anywhere.
How your company uses mobile devices and cloud technologies overlaps many other facets of your IT environment. First and foremost is the importance of providing for the security of business information. Because of the use of cloud and mobile devices, it’s possible for critical data – like customer and financial data and intellectual property – to travel outside of your company’s safe perimeter. Policies for login credentials need to be taken seriously. Protocols should be in place for what happens if a device is lost or stolen.
Your network and connectivity can enable or cripple your mobile and cloud capabilities. If your bandwidth won’t allow employees to consistently access the services they need to do their work, then productivity is affected. If the way that people access their work applications adds cost, then efficiencies might be offset. Workers will need support, whether it’s for help with integrating the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) app that they use or figuring out how to connect to WiFi. Standardizing equipment, apps and processes will enable better support and bring forward opportunities for upfront training.
Including mobile and cloud in your IT strategy helps you to coordinate all facets of your IT environment.
The true power of IT strategy is in the potential it carries for business transformation. When you go through the IT strategy process, you must stretch your thinking beyond your company and your employees. Just as your employees have brought their mobile habits into their work lives, you can bet your customers’ employees have, too. More and more B2B companies are looking to B2C for models of mobile and cloud to provide improved customer experiences.
Including mobile and cloud in your IT strategy helps you transform your business.