Mobile Productivity Today Means E-Mail

It’s a given that mobility, and access to wireless networks has already enhanced the productivity of the workforce, but we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. The productivity gains we experience pre-2009 are mostly on the back of a single, vertical mobile application – wireless e-mail.

E-mail became the life-blood of corporate communication through the 90s. But key decision makers are often away from their desks, traveling, or in meetings. Thus, there were clots in the arteries which often slowed the flow of decisions. The seminal Blackberry, released in 1999, revolutionized the “speed of information” and empowered a “real time” workforce. This is exemplified by a case such as where workers need to bounce an idea off their manager before they can complete a subsequent step. The manager, who is often mobile and out of office, is able to handle such requests, via mobile email, in whatever tiny slices of available time. This is just one example, and there are multiple other ways in which e-mail can accelerate results beyond just staff-manager communication.

• Logistics
• Group communication, team management
• Vendor management
• HR, accounting, expense
• Urgent news
• Approvals

The list above is hardly exhaustive.

Mobile Productivity Beyond The BlackBerry

But mobile e-mail, while being very powerful because it is a horizontal app that is useful at many levels in in all industries, is still only really good for “bite sized communications”. You don’t often see someone actually do “Work” with a capital ‘W’ using a smartphone. Editing of documents, creating spreadsheets, powerpoints, reviewing CAD drawings, etc. All of these functions call for a more powerful computer, a better UI, and a different set of applications. Now I know some will say “I edit documents on my …” Good for you. But you are not very efficient when you do it, and you are in the minority. This lack of actual productive horsepower is where the next revolution in mobile productivity will come.

The NetBook

A new range of hardware choices is bridging the gap between smartphones and ultra-portable laptops. MIDs (Mobile Internet Devices) are coming up from the phone side, while NetBooks are shrinking down from the PC side. These devices, unlike “desktop replacement” laptops, are assumed to be used in a mobile context almost all of the time. They are thus designed with mobile Internet connections built-in. New models from ASUS, Dell, and HP all ship with a Windows OS, and are small, but as powerful as the best of laptops in 2005. This means they are well suited for “mobile productivity”.

With this new class of devices, we start to see the difference between “mobile responding” which is what e-mail gives us versus “mobile productivity”. With the latter, not only can you read a word attachment, but you can add a few paragraphs, move some sections around, format, move it onto company letterhead, and send it out to clients. Not only can you read your email, but you can reply with an attachment, sort it, and mark it for follow up.

What makes these devices different than our existing laptops is that they have:

• “always on” wireless Internet built in, with less hassle to figure out
• short boot times, fast sleep and wake
• compact, easy to carry size and weight
• often no moving hard drive parts, using Flash memory instead

Because of this, users are more likely to “boot up” and take advantage of chunks of their time that might otherwise be lost. You could write a letter to a client, fix up a document, start a presentation, do your taxes, update your LinkedIn. Even email is better this way: if you have 2 minutes, sure, check your Blackberry, but if you have 10, why not open up your netbook and really plow through your mail. If you’re a Blackberry user, you know what I mean. Sure, most of us delete some email while mobile, but almost all of us end up re-handling and sorting the same messages when we finally get to our PC. Some people don’t want to work so much all the time. Netbooks aren’t for everyone. Of course, neither was the Blackberry in 1999.

Will Digital Nomads Be Motivated To Use NetBooks?

I think many digital nomads will choose to use this new class of laptop. The reason is that productivity is rewarded. You can do more work overall and move ahead, or you can re-allocate your time. Every job you get done on the road, in downtime, on trains, etc. is work you don’t have to do when you get back to your office. Most professionals I know “work from home” once in a while, which is code for go golfing or hang out with the kids. This kind of time flexibility and autonomy is generally available to the people who prove that they are also willing to work when duty calls.

Digital nomads, and people in general, are motivated when they are in control of their lives, and are offered that autonomy over when they work, and when they don’t. Mobile devices of all classes are bringing that power to more and more people. Employers who manage these mobile staff must not focus on how much time staff spend parked in their desk, but instead focus on results.

Managing By Managing

In fact, mobility of staff ”pulls back the curtain” to expose good and bad management. Managers who focus on butts in seats never really were managing. They forced attendance, and results were just a byproduct. For these poor leaders, less seat time = less product. Managers who have always focused instead on results (i.e. who actually managed) will see higher productivity from empowered, flexible, and mobile employees, whether they wear down their Herman Miller or not.

Late-breaking research from ABI (cited from Fiercewireless) to support my above claims:

“ABI Research says shipments of ultra-mobile devices, which include ultra-mobile PCs, networks and mobile Internet devices (MIDs), will exceed 200 million units in 2013. MIDs will make up the bulk of the shipments, taking 68 percent of the market, while netbooks will take up most of the rest. Ultra-mobile PCs will have a niche role in the market.”