What’s your primary device for doing business—laptop, smartphone, tablet, desktop, or something else? What impact would it have on your business if your primary device was out of commission? If the thought of you or your employees losing primary devices fills you with dread as you imagine productivity screeching to a halt, you could be missing a huge opportunity with the latest in cloud-based collaboration tools.
Device down!
For me, my primary device is my laptop. As any laptop owner knows, laptops are susceptible to damage, loss, and theft. The specter of malware, spills, and dropping it give gives me nightmares. Smartphones and tablets are even more at risk—so if your primary device is one of the latter, this is an important lesson.
During a recent holiday weekend, my car was burgled. Among the many stolen items was my work laptop—my favorite and primary device to work on. You would have imagined the loss of my laptop made work a little more cumbersome, but I was still able to pick up where I left off immediately: our cloud communications platform (along with other cloud based applications we use) saved the day.
With my smartphone synced and ready, my work was still at my fingertips. I could still reach the rest of my team with ease, and vice versa. I didn’t even have to suffer through significantly reduced functionality, because the same features that are available on my laptop are also available on my mobile—the smartest applications approach mobile connectivity as a primary design requirement, not an afterthought. The theft may have caught me by surprise, but I didn’t miss a beat at work.
The lesson
Theft happens. Damage happens. People lose important things. Your business’s ability to bounce back from hiccups is critical to your business continuity—and your bottom line.
If you or your employees don’t have a way to continue working when a device breaks or goes missing, your productivity will plummet. You won’t get any output from them until full functionality is restored—unless your business uses cloud-based services so they can work from any device.
Adding BYOD to the equation
One option, provided your company’s BYOD policy permits, is letting employees work on their own devices. This creates a productivity boost as employees can spend more time working—instead of waiting for a replacement device, waiting in line at lunch, traveling, or any other number of factors jeopardizing productivity. With cloud communications, employees are more mobile; with a BYOD policy, employees never have to miss a beat if their work devices are damaged, go missing, or are unavailable for any sort of reason.
Working from my smartphone, I did experience a few personal limitations, mostly related to screen size and typing capabilities. But had our IT department not been prepared with a backup computer, I could have gotten nearly everything done with my own laptop—the exception being sites blocked intentionally by our company’s security policy.
Always connected
With multi-device capability, and a smart BYOD policy atop a cloud communications platform, business continuity flourishes. Employees are always available and, more importantly, can always connect despite any shortcoming regarding devices that could arise. Cloud communications opens up a connected and productive world of opportunity for businesses.
Ask yourself: if my primary device disappeared, could I continue my work?
If your work devices disappeared entirely, could you use a personal device to plug into your company’s applications to get your work done? If not, why not? You’ve already seen the advantages it can bring to your business—mobility, flexibility, continuity and productivity. If you haven’t considered cloud communications yet, it may be time to get more information. Because who knows? The next device to go missing could be yours.