Our world right now is dominated by smartphones. Recent statistics showing that over 3.8 billion people own a smartphone, chances are that everyone you pass on the street has one. In fact the chances are that you’re reading this article on a smartphone right now.
We use our smartphones in every aspect of our daily life, from social media to browsing the internet and contacting our friends. But what about our professional lives? Can smartphones help with running our business? The answer is a resounding yes, and in this article we’ll show you exactly why you should be integrating smartphones into your business.
Contact is king
More people than ever are working remotely right now than ever before, and in a post-Covid19 world experts are predicting that our work practices will continue to shift more towards home working. With that fundamental shift comes the vital need for contact amongst colleagues. Gone are the days of gathering around the water cooler for office gossip, or standup meetings in the morning to establish the plan for the day. Instead our day to day office talk has moved to Instant Messaging apps, like Slack or Whatsapp, and video conferencing tools like Zoom, Skype or Google Hangouts have filled our need for meetings.
All of these can be run from the comfort of your own home, even without a computer, you can literally run your entire business’ internal communications from your phone.
The versatility of using smartphones over bulkier devices like tablets or laptops means that your team can work anywhere, and at any time, giving your entire company more freedom and better productivity.
Keep your data secure
One major concern many businesses have about conducting business using smartphones is the security aspect. You don’t want an employee accidentally (or intentionally) sharing company secrets, that’s where Mobile Device Management (MDM) software comes into play. MDM software allows you to essentially limit or mandate that certain apps are installed on company devices, and that certain functions of the smartphone are disabled. Common examples include Cisco Meraki or Hexnode both of which give an incredible level of control and security over your company devices.
Worried about an employee stealing a device? Most MDMs allow GPS tracking from a central dashboard, so you always know where your devices are. This has an extra benefit for companies that have employees travelling. You can always check your employee’s location to make sure they’re where they’re meant to be.
Combine an MDM with a company managed email suite, like GSuite and you suddenly have a device with no personal tie to your employees, meaning that there is zero risk for a data breach. You can’t get more secure than that.
Versatility is key
Apple once ran an incredibly successful marketing campaign for the iPhone, based around the tagline “There’s an app for that”. That sentiment has never been more true than right now. For every aspect of your business there’s an App that can automate or facilitate the process.
Scheduling phone calls? Try Calendly. Want to book in-person appointments? Acuity could be right for you. Need to take care of your accounting yourself? Quickbooks will help with that.
There are thousands of apps, and chances are if you want to do something, someone has made an app for it, and if not you can get developers to create a tailored app for you.
What makes this even more impressive, is that you can do all of this from your phone, meaning you can manage all aspects of your business while travelling, or at a restaurant, or while you’re walking the dog. When it comes to using a smartphone in your business, the only limits are your imagination and ambition.
Accessibility with smartphones
We have long since passed the days when smartphones were a highly sought after luxury that only the select few could afford. You can get a budget smartphone for less than the price of a meal in a nice restaurant these days. This means that finding great deals on smartphones has become even easier. You can shop around for the best deals on iPhones or Androids, whichever works best with your workflow, and chances are you’ll find some incredible value.
On top of that, there is so much choice between smartphones now, it wasn’t long ago that anything outside of a major flagship model was unusable, but in recent years smaller electronics companies like Xiaomi have been making waves with their incredibly powerful, low budget phones, making them even easier to integrate with your business.
The fact is that in the modern world, smartphones aren’t just helpful for your business, they’re practically essential. There’s never been a better time to untether yourself from the restraints of your desk and take advantage of the incredible freedom afforded us by smartphones.
Take the first steps and see for yourself the benefits of expanding your business’ toolkit to include smartphones.
