Best Practice in Mobile IT Strategy

by Korina Glass 19. November 2009 16:52

Best practice: Holistic approach

By 2010, 50% of enterprises will have migrated away from tactical mobile application silos (supporting a single application) to strategic platforms capable of supporting multiple applications, managing devices, and securing data and transport.

Gartner, 2007

          Faster development – A platform approach gets applications into users hands faster, delivering value quicker

          Shared costs – for mobile infrastructure, development components, and devices

          Focus on users & processes – remove technology concerns from the hands of the business

Best practice: Measure, Measure, Measure

 Failure to measure benefits and impacts is one of the most commonly seen points of failure in mobile projects

          The highest performing organisations are ones that focus on measuring their performance

          Mobile solutions are complex – without the right measurement approach you won’t know what works and what doesn’t

        Especially for pilots, set aside time to fully analyse results and outcomes

          It’s easy to fall into a trap where you just become very good at measuring things and generating KPIs

        Look for “leading indicators” to reduce measurement overhead

Best practice: Human factors & adoption

          Technology is a tool, not an end in itself

          Demystify the technology, but hide the complexity

          The importance of training

          Workers are influenced by their peers

          Bad news travels fast

IT in Housing

by Korina Glass 19. November 2009 15:32

igroup had a successful had a successful exhibition at IT in housing 2009 at Olympia, London. IT in Housing Conference and Exhibition is the UK’s premier IT event in the social housing sector, which offered an unparalleled opportunity for igroup to get in front IT and ICT directors and managers from the housing sector to help increase their efficiency and maximise mobile IT investments through showcasing Dynamic Forms, which proved to be a huge success.

Mobile IT in Housing

by Korina Glass 12. November 2009 20:52

82% of housing departments and associations have stated that mobile working is a priority for them in 2010, yet only 38% have a mobile working strategy in place.

 Integration with other IT applications is the main bug bear faced by housing departments in developing a mobile working strategy. Applications such as Micrsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be intergrated with a mobile IT solution, such as Dynamic Forms. However, according to the poll, the greatest benefits in implementing a mobile working strategy are to provide flexible and innovative ways of working for housing staff (33%) and higher service to citizens (36%).

Housing associations face immense challenges (NHF, 2009). These range from being able to generate tangible savings in 2010, improving ways of working for staff and enhancing service for citizens. Housing associations are coming around to the idea that mobile working strategies can deliver innovative, yet practical, ways of solving these challenges.

An example of mobile working initiative is to give field staff handheld devices to carry out updates on repairs and timesheets while they are out visiting customers which are logged on completion. Immediate benefits in achieving efficiency improvements.  In addition to reducing levels of manual data entry, fuel and inventory costs will decrease and there have been significant gains in productivity.


Join igroup Ltd at the IT in Housing Exhibition

by Korina Glass 12. November 2009 11:51

Visit igroup at the premier IT exhibition in social housing on the 17 – 18 November, Olympia, London.

IT in Housing Exhibition is the UK’s largest and most highly acclaimed housing technology exhibition.

The exhibition, which forms the focal point of the National Housing Federation’s IT in Housing Conference, is now in its 10 year, and offers delegates and visitors an excellent one-stop opportunity to explore the latest innovations, products and services from 80 leading ICT suppliers to the housing sector.

Visit igroup Ltd to experience demos of Dynamic Forms, and talk to our team to discuss your mobile IT needs.

Entry to the exhibition is free of charge.

Are You Making The Most of Today's Technology?

by Korina Glass 5. November 2009 11:41

Housing Associations belong in the community, not behind a desk. Many housing organisations are already reaping the rewards of today’s technologies. According to the Future Work Forum, one in three UK workers does at least part of their work each week away from their desk. Millions of working hours each day are spent working in the community, undertaking surveys, assessing houses fit for purpose.  With growing awareness of flexible and remote working, the challenge is to enable workers in the field, or at remote locations, to be as productive and efficient as they possibly can be in the housing sector.

The ‘real’ work is outside the office

One part of the solution is to deploy mobile technology to provide the housing sector workers with access to job-related information wherever they are based. The potential benefits of mobile working are positively compelling: the UK government estimates the public sector could save up to £336 million a year through mobile technology.  These savings would be generated through reduced office costs, efficiency savings, service improvement and improved quality of data.

Rob Bamforth, research analyst with Quocirca stated that “the ‘real’ work is outside the office” meaning that housing associations could benefit enormously from mobile working. “Providing access to IT on the move saves time, and therefore makes the individual more productive.”

For example, the London Borough of Sutton achieved 47% efficiency savings when it provided staff with tablet PCs to record the results of interviews. Computerising the process has reduced errors and also means the results can be processed more easily – a typical house survey can now be processes in less than one week, compared to five weeks previously.

In Sheffield, 84 local councillors have been provided with PDA’s allowing them to electronically record requests, complaints and repairs, which are automatically sent back to the council’s contact centre. This system saves each councillor around three hours per week in paperwork and administration, translating into a major financial saving for the council.

Making Mobility work for Housing Associations

Achieving the benefits of mobile computing isn’t always straightforward. One of the biggest challenges with mobile computing deployment is a lack of knowledge and a lack of planning. Local authorities can access expert advice and support for mobile project from igroup ltd, which has successfully completed a number of mobile projects in the housing sector/ public sector.

 

 

Mobile IT Strategy

by Korina Glass 2. November 2009 16:37

}  The use of mobile devices is growing exponentially as companies look for new ways to support a workforce that requires easy, wireless access to forms and other documents in the field.

}  Without a solid investment in current business technologies, you can’t compete effectively in a global marketplace. }  Companies struggle to define a mobile IT strategy. }  They also find it difficult to identifying the right set of tools for managing mobile IT (MDM).}  Companies tend to start with the technology and work backwards from there, trying to solve business problems.

}  Finding the right option is imperative.

}  We are in an ‘info-centric’ era as we focus our IT plans and strategies around information rather than the computer.

What should a Mobile IT strategy look like?

}  Mobility should be at the core of any and all IT strategies going forward.

}   Increasingly distributed operations.

}   Hopefully Reduce legacy infrastructure costs.

}  Think through operational issues before finalising a strategy - management, support, security.

}  Pick the best toolset for the job, but keep growth in mind.

}  Handhelds will replace PCs for many but expect continuing evolution for the foreseeable future.

}  Build teams regardless of the physical distance between team members. 

Competitive Advantage from Strategy

}  The theme is one of continuous connectivity, where we can access data anywhere.

}  The main competitive advantage remaining today for any business, irrespective of industry, is the ability to obtain and act on information ahead of your competition.

}  Your ability to get information into the hands of people who need that information, and enable them to act on and interact with that information before the competition does, is what's going to make a difference in terms of business success.

Overview

}  The value that mobility brings to an enterprise is well known. It's difficult to imagine how an enterprise cannot benefit from access to information at any location at any time.

}  The company should ensure investments in mobile IT fulfil the desired objective of contributing to evolving the IT infrastructure to higher levels of enterprise mobility.

}  An enterprise mobile strategy should ensure that:

}  The fast-changing technology landscape does not result in investments becoming redundant.

}  The existing IT infrastructure can be leveraged to provide mobile solutions.

}  Implementation of mobility does not affect the performance and functionality of existing critical enterprise IT systems.