Work is not the same place that it used to be.

Until recently, work was where we would all go, check in with our supervisor, receive our tasking for the day and then complete it while sneaking looks at the clock whenever we thought that the supervisor wasn t looking at us. In our increasingly mobile world there is less need for employees to go to work. Their workplace can be wherever their devices can connect to Internet. It also means that bosses can hire highly trained workers who are living in areas where manpower cost is lower than it is locally.

Some small business owners are a little frightened at the prospect of supervising a crew that they are not in the same room with, but a mobile workforce also creates opportunities for a small (and not so small) business simply would not be able to take advantage of with a strictly brick and mortar workplace model.

If there is a secret to successfully managing a mobile work team, it is that good management practices are good management practices, whether the team is sitting in front of you around the conference table, at their work bench, or plugged into the WiFi at their neighborhood coffee shop.

Less effective managers feel they need to be able to look over their worker s shoulders at any time and see what they are up to. It is easier on everyone when management focuses on results. This requires good communication between supervisors and workers, whether local or remote, so that goals and expectations are clear and a willingness to hold workers accountable for what they produce.

In addition to communicating expectations and goals, ensuring that your workers have the proper tools to do their job is an important management function. Traditional office places in brick and mortar facilities are adopting BYOD, or bring your own device policies. Managers and IT professionals initially resisted BYOD, fearing that there would be chaos resulting from workers trying to accomplish tasks and communicate across several different platforms, not to mention the concern that employees would be conducting personal business on their personal devices on company time.

Studies have shown that BYOD actually increases productivity. One theory is that workers are more comfortable doing work using the same device they use in their personal lives. Naturally, remote workers are going to use their personal devices to accomplish company tasking, so your company needs to use tools which can operated and collaborate across a variety of platforms.

In less than two decades, Google has grown from a couple of grad students interesting project to organize the information on the Internet to one of the largest corporations in the world. A huge part of their success is based on not forgetting the little guys. Google Apps for Work are not only useful and universal, they work and play well with other applications, operating systems, platforms and office suites. This means seamless collaboration and communication.

If you are looking to mobilise your workforce, contact us now for a free no-obligation chat about what is possible.