5 Common Mistakes Companies Make in Their Mobile Policies

When creating a formal enterprise mobility policy, beware of these five common pitfalls to ensure the policy is beneficial to both the business and employees.

Whether it’s to help maintain work efficiencies, reduce roaming overages or ensure employees have consistent access to work information when remote, there must be an understanding of what a policy is trying to achieve before the company implements it. Once this goal is defined, companies should measure the policy’s effectiveness consistently. The general values of having mobile policies are to make employees more productive and increase company efficiencies. If these aren’t immediately defined, it’s going to be hard to determine what needs to be adjusted or fixed.

The easiest way to ensure employees are confused about what is and isn’t included in a company mobile policy is to leave them in the dark on the details. Managers need to keep a consistent and open line of communication with employees through multiple channels, such as email, printed handouts and automated notifications on work devices. The policies also need to be explained in a way employees understand, realizing that not everyone will comprehend the details of the policy immediately and may require some extra coaching. Open communication not only will give employees a better understanding of what is involved, but they also will be held more accountable to follow mobile policies.

Factors such as cost savings, timing or rollout deadlines can spur companies to force mobile policies on employees that may not be the best fit for their business or workforce. While it may be tempting to hit the implementation deadline, companies must be flexible with mobile policies and listen to feedback they receive from employees. Make sure any policy instituted contributes to the purpose, productivity and process of a business. Then, if there are kinks, companies must address them in real time along the way, versus trying to make it work as-is. This will lead to more successful adoption of the policy in the end.

Companies trying to work through a new or adjusted mobile policy often can lose sight of those who will use the policy the most: customers and employees. Companies and vendors assisting them must make sure they always keep the users top of mind throughout the entire implementation process. Training, regular policy updates and communicating in a way customers and employees can understand not only will make them feel more involved, but will also help ensure there will be fewer hiccups during the policy rollout.

If a company has a primarily mobile-first workforce, its policy will be completely different from that of a company that relies primarily on desktops and desk phones. Forgetting to consider the culture of a workforce could result in policies that aren’t the best fit or rollouts that are received poorly because of confusion. For example, if a company limits the type of devices employees can use for work purposes, it could risk employees not being able to adapt to a new device or bringing their own, unauthorized ones instead. Companies must work with employees to ensure a policy that fits employee workflow and offers training options or onsite deployment as needed for those that aren’t as tech-savvy.