Smart phones are the smart way to work

Mayank Sharma (name changed), a Software professional with a leading IT company, had a torrid time in the second week of October this year, when he was hit with the BlackBerry outage experienced across the globe. He had to lug his laptop wherever he would go so that he had constant access to his office’s e-mail account and other critical data. Mayank’s case was not an aberration as newspaper reports later revealed that scores of working professionals in India suffered similar plight with corporate productivity taking a beating in that period. While the glitch has been sorted out and BlackBerry services are again at its best, the incident surely underlined the role of smartphones in the modern-day corporate sector.Smartphones of today have really emerged as an efficient tool for business organizations. Why and how?The present-day corporate functioning, especially in sunrise industries like IT and ITES, demands employees to work on the go, be well-connected with the office round-the-clock, have access to important documents and work in different time zones. Smartphones, like BlackBerry and iPhone, packed with powerful features like e-mail, document viewing & editing etc. and well-complemented with thousands of office-utility applications like MS-Office, Adobe etc., came as an answer and is today widely used within organizations and is a Swiss Army knife-like device to a globe-trotting or on-the-move professional. It not only improved efficiency and effectiveness of the organizational workforce but also brought a range of convenience and facilities thereby providing positive returns on investments.Office goes mobileToday, all you need to do is to connect your smartphone with your office server and your entire office is accessible from your mobile. Check and send e-mails, view and edit documents (Word, Excel, PDFs etc.), get access to office information and data, discuss something urgent with your colleague on the messaging services, interact with the client via video-conferencing or simply browse the web for market updates-the smartphone is perfect for all that!The smartphones also come with built-in organizers wherein you can schedule and get reminders for all your important meetings and appointments so that you are always on time. Need to scan a document and send it right across? No need to worry as some smartphones comes with document scanning facilities where you can instantly scan the document and mail it with a few taps and in a few seconds.With enterprises adopting mobility applications, the role and use of smartphones is further expanding and moving into industry and domain specific applicability. The result: People can now access CRMs, Business Intelligence, Sales Force Automation and other key database softwares on their mobile leading to optimized time-management and productivity in the offices. Yes! All key information is now at your fingertips. And that too safe and secure!Moreover, Virtual Network Computing for Mobiles can provide you with access and allow you to navigate and perform tasks on a desktop from a mobile device. Just install the application on your phone, login with your IP address and you are ready to experience the mini desktop on your cell phone. So, if you have a file stored in your office desktop then you can get access to it on the road, in your mobile.Apps on demandWant to customize your device according to your needs? Want to add a few more features to your mobile? Simple. Download apps. All popular smartphones from RIM, Apple, Samsung etc., also support lakhs of applications available in the app stores of their manufacturers. You have applications for Time Management, File Transferring, Presentation Viewing, to subscribe and read e-books and magazines., and what not? You need to just visit the store, choose the app, and buy it, if it’s a paid application, and now your smartphone is ready to be more helpful in your work. The app list in these stores are fastly growing thus to keep your smartphones regularly updated with the emerging technologies and catering to your changing professional needs.As working cultures undergo change and newer technologies emerge, smartphones will become more powerful and play a wider role in professional and organizational life. The Mobile-Office concept is set to become a way-of-life tomorrow. Get ready for it.Ravi Korukonda, chief operating officer, X (cube) labs