THE ROLE OF MOBILITY IN WORKPLACE TRANSFORMATION

an AVI-SPL whitepaper

Executive SummaryMobile technology has revolutionized the workplace.In this white paper we will: • Explore why state government needs to develop

strategies that empower agencies to leverage technology beyond the four walls of their conference rooms.

• Address the opportunities, challenges, and the five key elements of an enterprise mobility strategy.

• Provide an overview of how state government can deploy these solutions while still remaining focused on simplicity, security, and the risks related to BYOD vs. Government issued technology.

How Mobility is Transforming Government Agencies: An Overview

The “workforce prototype” is changing across all industries. The Internet drove millions of dollars of investments into e-government initiatives. Now, the mobile revolution is transforming the government sector. Mobile technology has put government organizations face-to-face with an emerging reality: Enterprise mobility.

At least 40%

of state and local government managers use mobile devices

for work purposes

65%

of managers expect the number of mobile workers to rise significantly over the next

five years

93%

of the workforce has embraced digital technology at work

72%

use an agency-issued smartphone

46%

use a similar personal device for doing business-related work

New trend in government agencies:

Use of personal devices in the workplace.

Most studies on workplace flexibility have concluded a mobile workplace: • Reduces office space• Lowers cost of operation• Increases productivity• Creates better work/life balance• Supports quicker and better

decision-making• Hastens response time• Permits enterprises to conduct real-

time business

85%

acknowledged that mobile solutions can significantly cut down on operational costs in

government agencies

90%

believed that a flexible work environment can increase

employee satisfaction

While mobile solutions impact public sector budgets in diverse

ways, the benefits of mobility are not necessarily restricted to cost

savings

Introducing mobile solutions within the framework of an

agency offers significant benefits.

The state government of Montana needed a cost-effective communication system for its 11,560 employees who were widely distributed across 600 locations. A comprehensive unified communication strategy has enabled the government to save $100,000 on telephony expenses at one office location alone.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHA) saved an estimated $55 million in office real estate costs by increasing teleworking opportunities and embracing desk-sharing capabilities.

Examples

When it comes to roadblocks in the adoption of mobility programs, the biggest challenge is implementing and working with technology that changes at an unprecedented rate.

Another significant challenge for government agencies is that most of them still haven’t embraced a mobile-mindset, despite the fact that mobile has already penetrated deep within the organization.

Five Key Elements of Enterprise Mobility Strategy for Government Agencies

Every enterprise needs an effective mobility strategy, and government agencies are no different. Here are five key elements to include is your mobility strategy that should lead to successful adoption

01Unified Communication Equips today’s government agencies with a seamless user experience for staff, irrespective of location. These technologies include devices such as the standard office telephone, PDAs, smartphones, tablets, laptops, computers, and e-mail, as well as video and web conferencing solutions. With advanced features such as presence, desktop collaboration, instant messaging, and emergency notification systems, government organizations can effectively empower their mobile workforce.

02Mobile Collaboration Tools With the ability to stay connected to teams over a secure network, government staff can experience more productive working hours almost instantly. Mobile collaboration tools also reduce travel time, costs associated with travel, and enables dispersed teams to make and deploy faster decisions during emergencies and when tackling crisis situations. These tools offer measurable ROI by transforming the workplace into a more connected, hyper-productive zone.

03Business Productivity Suites Government organizations can realize huge opportunities to cut costs and clunky hardware applications, by using secure cloud services. By transitioning from infrastructure-based to application-based operations, organizations can benefit from a host of scalable, flexible, and cost-effective options in response to the growing demands of mobility.

04On-Demand Content Today’s staff should have access to all the information they need, from anywhere, at any time. This is why government organizations need a robust system to distribute news and competitive intelligence digitally among their teams. On-demand content can take care of the knowledge consumption needs for a mobile workforce, while also improving the

quality of presentations across all levels of a mobile organization.

05Sharing and Learning Management Systems 76 percent of federal managers have confirmed that they are trained to leverage digital technologies in the workplace, but only 36 percent of respondents believe their employees have the necessary training. Learning Management Systems put the employees at the center of the learning process, where they gain knowledge about the new technologies, how to use them to improve their performance and productivity, and the ways to reduce risk and maintain compliance.

Making Mobility Happen: Effectively Deploying the Mobility Strategy

Thanks to BYOD trend, many consumer-grade applications are making their way into the enterprise often without the knowledge or the approval of IT departments. Security concerns are paramount for government agencies. They need to have strong security policies in place even before they start deploying mobile solutions. It is important for agencies to revisit their security basics, revise SLAs, and enhance user education about secure use of devices if they plan to securely leverage mobility to its fullest potential.

Conclusion

Mobile solutions promise radical improvements to how our government systems and agencies are run, and need to be implemented now. The perception that private corporations are more digitally aligned than government is changing rapidly as many public sector/government agencies demonstrate excellent use cases of deploying mobile solutions.

About AVI SPLAVI-SPL is the world’s leading video communication provider. Using the latest technology, we design, build, and support systems and environments that enable communication and collaboration. We help companies with multiple locations, clients in different time zones, and projects in various countries streamline communication to reduce the distance between collaboration. We specialize in multiple industries and offer solutions tailored to specific needs. With projects in more than 19 countries, we have experience in wide-ranging technology capabilities and construction. AVI-SPL has highly-trained and certified system engineers throughout nearly 40 offices across the United States, Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Dubai, and an international network of solution providers in 30 countries.

Corporate Headquarters:AVI-SPL6301 Benjamin Road, Suite 101Tampa, FL 33634