Enabling a mobile workforce
Many businesses globally are having severe challenges finding the right people who are technically able to complete work, as well as motivated to do so. Money is part of the motivation but it can hard for any human to find themselves doing ‘busywork’ on account of IT systems not being able to deliver real value for your business.
Enabling a mobile workforce is as much about the culture as it is about the technology. At Hayachi Services we understand this, helping many professional services firm retain their customers through our White Glove Deskside Support service. We deliver value, and know what works especially for firms with limited resources or technical knowledge internally.
Culture is what makes a workforce agile. Let’s be clear about that. Click that link if you want to learn why.
But technology does matter, as if you’re expecting a member of staff to carry a 6KG desktop, a 6KG Monitor and then assorted cables, keyboard and mouse… you are mildly missing the point of the last few decades of innovation.
Being able to make to the most of tablet-computers is essential, and sometimes these are simple tablets. For example, use of the Samsung Galaxy series enables you to both have a very powerful tablet as well as the ability to use this device on a screen – at Full HD – and it costs half of what the equivalent laptop would be.
This in turn means that instead of carrying a clunky 6 kilo load, your staff can hop around with a very light 2 kilo suite of technology – including their phone – to deliver for clients. You still have the power of a solid, sturdy and fast device. Secured of course. And with Cloud Computing you can offset that ‘hard-work’ through the internet, into your secure IT systems.
Is it really that simple?
Yes. Onto the next section then.
Keeping in touch with your team
Being able to speak to your team is likely the largest challenge you will face. As you have seen above, Hayachi Services can provide you the technical expertise and facilitate the cultural exchanges needed to become mobile, agile and a fast-moving firm (in the right direction, that part matters!).
You will however have to use a tool to talk with your team, not just over the phone but through video and audio calls. Many firms use Discord or Slack for just this, often together. You may find some businesses choose to use Zoom, GoToMeeting or Microsoft Teams as well, which all have their strengths and weaknesses.
Making a point to have away-days, as well as in-days are important – a day where your team are, well effectively forced to collaborate in person. This is important as otherwise the material fiduciary return is all that staff get out of working at your firm. That means a better offer will mean they leave, whereas a loyal member of staff will instead bring talent into your firm rather than leave it.
At Hayachi Services most of our staff work three days a week, this enables a healthy work-life balance, time to volunteer in the community, and for well-rested staff to deliver a continually good service to our customers. This also means we have more staff, which oddly means things like holidays and sickness have less impact on our operation.
We run a company Discord, with relevant information barriers within teams, and this costs us nothing. Nothing. Because Discord is Enterprise Open Source, you can pay for Discord Nitro for HD Streaming but that’s about what it’s worth to us.
