This is the third opus of a series of posts and comments published by « Enterprise Mobility Matters » which will be the subject of a “parallel blogging” experiment with Analystik, editor of the « Productivité + » blog, onto which you will find a reply to these posts and comments.
Measuring the contribution of Mobility to Sales Force Productivity
In our first post, we argued that IT now plays a strategic role in the pursuit of business objectives. Moreover, that the impact of mobility to productivity is perceptible, whether or not mobility tools have been integrated with IT environment; even if only, indirectly.
For this 2nd post, we will discuss measuring the contribution of Mobility tools to Sales Force Productivity.
The very first point to mention is that large organizations are certainly a step ahead of SMB in Smartphones deployment. Now, until recently, the deployment of these advanced mobility tools within businesses was not the result of a carefully planned enhanced productivity strategy but, for the most part, the result of visionary managers’ individual efforts. Very often, Smartphones deployment within organization occurs after many negotiation rounds with one or more mobile operators; and considering the wireless price structure in Canada, negotiating the best wireless monthly package is a major issue. After such, Smartphones are usually provided to users with minimal training; managers counting on Smartphones functionalities (calendar, contacts, emails, etc.) to automatically or miraculously enhance employees’ productivity. Unfortunately, more than often, very few metrics will make for either a gain or loss in terms of productivity in the months or years following such Smartphones deployment…
And today, where do we stand? Well, let’s consider the case of an organization thinking of enhancing its Sales Force productivity by means of Smartphones. How must they proceed since, as pointed out by Philippe Winthrop in response to our first post, it is only very recently that business people have been planning the integration of advanced mobility solutions (Smartphones) within their organizations? Before even thinking of metrics, what are the « Wireless Management 101 » principles to follow in order to enhance the Sales Force productivity? Well, here we go:
Show leadership
- by communicating your strategic decision to all concerned and by defining very clear rules in terms of usage (who manages the mobile devices, security, maintenance, etc.), support (IT, carrier and manufacturer; who, when and for what each will provide technical service) and exploitation (phone numbers, mobile devices and contents belong and should remain with the enterprise ) of your mobile devices park
Support your strategic decision
- by providing appropriate training both in terms of technology (device functions) and of productivity (communications and priority management) to make sure users get the most out of their Smartphones; after all, these are pretty complex and powerful little devices
Maximize your investment in mobile technology
- by adding to your mobile devices functionalities and Business Intelligence specific to your business process, make strategic data necessary to activity management and to decision process available on the road
Recommend (business rule)
- using portables at the office and mobile devices on the road
Integrate, integrate, and integrate:
- analyze all tools used by the Sales Force and integrate as many as you can into a single platform, if possible (this could take quite some time and could best be done by « mobilizing » a few key functions at a time)
Define metrics
- to gauge the contribution of mobility to productivity
- Adoption rate of critical functionalities to enhancing productivity. Ex: being able to check inventory for specific items on the road; agenda management by an assistant.
- Mastering the basic functions of the device. Ex: automatic dialling of most frequently called and received numbers.
- Understanding and applying good business practices. Ex: not answering calls during meetings
- Number of client meetings / representative, etc. (see first post)
You have chosen an advanced Mobility solution (Smartphones); expectations are high both from employees and the management body, and with good reason. We all got blinded by the promise of enhanced Productivity that Smartphones seem to carry along; it’s as if, somehow a Smartphone would make people… smarter, or something like that. For sure, Mobility tools extend business reality beyond walls; which could be very profitable in terms of productivity if well integrated… into business reality!
Nevertheless, one must carefully manage not only « Wireless Tools » but also « wireless activities » as well in order to harvest the promised productivity gains; again, answering a call or an email for that matter during a meeting certainly doesn’t fall within the scope of good business practices. In short, it goes like this: Lead, Communicate, Train, Maximize, Rule, Integrate and Measure. I believe anyone applying/enforcing these principles would kind of exhibit the qualities of a leader.
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