According to a survey produced by ZDNet, 44% of organizations already have BYOD policies in their offices and an additional 18% of those organizations have plans to adopt BYOD as their mobile device policy within the next 12 months. This percentage has nearly tripled since 2011, when Vertic reported 16% of companies were using BYOD policies. As use of mobile devices in the corporate space continues to rise, it increases the need to have an effective mobile strategy as part of your overall corporate information strategy. Having a dedicated Corporate Library Mobile App provides a strong foundation to both your company’s mobile strategy & BYOD policy.
Drivers of BYOD Policies in the Corporate Sphere
Increased Demand by Employees
It seems like “the next big thing” is available to us on a weekly basis. While the results of this rapidly increasing changeover in technology are available to your employees via the next iOS, Android or Win8 device, it behooves a company to ensure their mobile strategy is scalable. With a BYOD policy in place, employees can use the technology they want (be it the latest iPhone 5s or a Samsung Galaxy S4) and remain as productive as possible.
Support Urgent & Time Critical Needs for Information
With a Corporate Library Mobile App, your field-based teams can readily access your library’s resources. Add the ability to incorporate your enterprise security protocol for remote access (e.g. VPN, Proxy) and you can provide seamless access on the go. Gone are the days of scrambling to authenticate against a VPN server, access your company’s intranet and finally find information (we hope). Using a dedicated app, your employees can jump directly to the resources they need without any of the hassle. Taking a page from the pharmaceutical industry as an example, Medical Science Liaisons (MSL) will be able to answer Key Opinion Leader (KOL) questions on the spot. No more “fire drill” info requests sent back to HQ because they weren’t able to access a literature database on their own.
Increased Engagement via Improved Usability
When employees can easily use your Corporate Library’s Mobile App to access your resources, they have more time to do the stuff that matters – innovating, analyzing and strategizing, not searching.
Minimized End-User Training
By letting your employees choose the device they want to use, the need for end-user training diminishes. Forcing an Android diehard to use a iOS device requires training (and vice versa). You can bypass this need by simply enabling employees to use whatever they use at home. This makes business sense and allows your library to provide better customer service by adapting to your employees’ needs.
Frequent Updates and Enhancements
Corporate Library holdings and workflows fluctuate throughout the year. These changes can come both internally and externally (e.g. publishers). According to the “State of Enterprise Mobile Readiness 2013 Report” by AnyPresence, roughly one-third of companies update or enhance their mobile apps at least once a month. A dedicated Corporate Library Mobile App enables frequent updates and enhancements to be pushed to your employees.
Going Mobile is the Key: The Benefit of a Corporate Library Mobile App
Having a Corporate Library Mobile App is key to helping your BYOD policy succeed in your organization. Not only does it allow your employees to have easy access with their smartphones and tablets of choice, but more importantly, it also puts your library’s holdings, research databases and non-catalogued resources available through a single point of access.
