More and more business are choosing to equip their employees with mobile devices. The “bring your own device” a.k.a. BYOD concept of portability, mobility, and cloud-based data storage makes clunky desktop PCs a thing of the past.
Consumers are also switching to mobile devices as PC sales drop to historic lows. The Wall Street Journal reports, “Sales of personal computers fell in the final quarter of 2015 to their lowest level since 2007, the year Apple Inc. introduced the iPhone, according to data released Tuesday by industry researcher International Data Corp.”
“The forces aligned against the PC industry amounted to a triple whammy: an economic slowdown in China, a strong U.S. dollar that made computers more costly in Europe, and the inexorable growth of smartphones and other mobile devices.”
Mobile devices are becoming the status quo and preferred means of information consumption and workflow productivity. Here’s a closer look at why every business owner should focus on the future of mobile.
1. Portability
Modern mobile devices can display rich media, run various applications, store data and browse the Internet in the same way a desktop computer has done in the past, even more efficiently. The question is why should bulky PCs be used, when a smaller and handy tablet, smartphone or laptop performs the same functions and is more user-friendly. Also many mobile devices can be operated with the help of a bluetooth keyboard or trackpad.
2. Device management
Mobile device developers are constantly improving their operation systems (e.g., Apple iOS, Google Android, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS, Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS, etc.) adding new features to make them quicker and more powerful.
Whereas PC hardware upgrades have seen a slow down in development. Although Microsoft’s free Windows 10 upgrade program was a hit, proving to be a worthwhile upgrade from Windows 7 and 8, the company “used its Ignite 2015 conference to declare Windows 10 will be ‘the last version of Windows.'”
Moreover, it’s a lot of work to store and manage data on a traditional PC. Although, it is secured by anti-virus protection, passwords and locks, data backup can be an arduous and complex task. While mobile devices avoid these challenges using enterprise applications and cloud-based services.
3. Easy to maintain
That total cost of PC ownership (TCO) is high. “TCO calculations include a combination of direct costs (hardware, software, operations and administration) and indirect costs (end-user operations and downtime). TCO is often overlooked, and unbudgeted,” according to Network Alliance. “Computers require constant configuring and maintenance. Ongoing costs related to security measures, software updates, computer repair and general support.” Any hardware or simple malfunction needs repair, which can be not only expensive, but also takes time.
4. Cloud-based approach
There are some apps that are aimed solely for desktop computer use, but with many cloud-based versions of the same application, this is no longer restrictive. The cloud-based approach allows for a huge reduction of downtime. When one employee faces device failure, he or she can log-in from another device.
5. Security
Mobile devices can keep data stored in cloud-based applications. And if IT hosts the same application on a local desktop computer, a users’ configuration preferences are stored there too. While mobile device security is a real issue, becoming smarter about ways to protect devices is key. By keeping software updated, using strong passwords, and more employees can keep their mobile devices more secure.
Considering the up-side, mobile devices grant modern businesses a powerful opportunity to stay connected and improve workflow. Sooner or later you may find yourself ditching PC’s altogether.
Alexandra Riabtsun works as a Marketing Manager for Glorium Technologies and possesses knowedge and experience of technologies making business process better. She’s eager to share her thoughts on this particular field.
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