Fun fact: your smartphone contains more computing power than the entire Apollo program used to put astronauts on the moon. That kind of power in your pocket means more than just playing Angry Birds: it’s the means by which technology is finally enabling business to move out of the cubicle and into the pocket office revolution—the most disruptive change to work since replaceable parts.
Since the industrial revolution, most business has been conducted in large bureaucratic settings. And there was good reason for that. Managers needed to be physically close to assembly line workers, and later VPs of companies such as Initech needed to be able to roam cubicles and give out ad hoc assignments.
Information also needed to be centralized and controlled to make sure nothing was lost or stolen. Businesses ran fairly well but individual productivity was certainly held back.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, we were promised a paperless office, but the technology wasn’t quite ready to handle the demands of enterprises, governments, or universities. As we all remember, hundreds if not thousands of companies rushed into the “tech bubble” claiming to have made the breakthroughs that would change everything. Almost all of these promises went unfulfilled. The technology just wasn’t there yet.
But today we are experiencing a mobility revolution that is changing the way business is conducted in almost every industry. Technology is finally ready to truly fulfill its promise to improve productivity. Seamless digital communications tools are enabling coworkers scattered around the world to conduct truly global business. Enterprise-level mobile security is enabling workers to brainstorm and collaborate in real time without the fear of data loss.
Some companies are taking advantage of this sea change while others, slow to adapt, are being left behind or closing up shop. Over the next few weeks, we will be profiling companies who are embracing the pocket office revolution as the next logical step in the evolution of business.
In real estate, companies are using robust mobile devices to streamline the mountains of paperwork involved in any transaction in addition to giving virtual tours to prospective buyers.
You will also hear from pediatricians who are using mobile applications with powerful business-oriented mobile devices in the exam room to help deliver patient care.
Financial advisors will show you how much more connected they can be by taking their pocket office with them to meet their clients wherever they are. Westpac will also explain how it uses mobile applications and devices to let its clients handwrite questions about their portfolios from anywhere and get real time answers from their advisors.
No matter what industry you are in, the mobility-enabled pocket office revolution will dramatically change the way you (or your competitors) do business. This is what disruptive change in the workplace looks like: the ability to put the entire means of production into devices the size of your wallet—or that even fit in your wallet.
Viva la pocket office revolution!