The COVID-19 crisis helped to accelerate the inevitable trend towards a decentralised, hybrid workforce with many people now working from home or on the road at least part of the time. One recent global pulse survey found that 17% of desk employees work fully remotely, 35% work full-time in an office, and 49% work in a hybrid environment.

Following the digital transformation we have seen during the pandemic, old approaches to managing the mobile workforce are not good enough to keep pace. Enterprises need to simplify management of people and their workforce devices, wherever they are, and keep spiralling costs under control.

Here is our guide to the basics most companies will need:

Human capital management

Managing a remote, hybrid and mobile workforce isn’t only about notebooks, smartphones and email access. With people spending more time working outside the branch office or campus, companies need smarter tools to ensure they’re engaged and productive. Solutions such as mobile human capital management and employee self-service tools are essential.

Companies that develop these software solutions have focused on retooling them for the hybrid work age. Cutting edge software provides channels for managing communications, performance, wellness, on- and offboarding, and other aspects of the employee experience. It also helps employees to manage expense claims, apply for leave, access payslips and manage training schedules via self-service.

Unified endpoint management

Cutting edge unified endpoint management solutions have, in recent years, eclipsed tools like client management tools (CMT), mobile device management (MDM) and enterprise mobility management (EMM). Unified endpoint management brings management of mobile devices and PCs together in a single console to simplify operations.

By enabling companies to manage Windows, Linux, Android, iOS and Internet of Things devices in a holistic way, unified endpoint management reduces costs and improves end-user experience. As Gartner notes, these tools take a user-centric rather than a device-centric view. Modern endpoint management incorporates the features of CMT, MDM, EMM and more:

• Enrolling and provisioning devices in all device ownership models, including bring your own device (BYOD) and corporate owned, personally enabled (COPE)
• Enforcing security policies
• Patching and updating apps, firmware or operating systems
• Application management
• Separating corporate and personal data into containers
• Identity and contextual authentication
• Analysing technology performance and employee experience data
• Endpoint and connection security
• Wiping or locking lost, stolen or obsolete devices.

Mobile expense management

As companies accelerate digital transformation and the move towards hybrid work, they often see a spike in mobile device and service costs. The advent of 5G, reliance on mobile data during loadshedding, and heavier usage of cloud applications are all contributing to higher mobile broadband spending.

But bill shock and wastage can be reduced by putting in place cutting edge tools and processes that offer visibility into and control over the mobile environment. Mobile Expense Management allows companies to monitor and control 3G and APN data and voice costs in real time. They can track users, teams and entire departments to identify usage trends and manage spending.

Mobile Expense Management is a subset of tech expense management operations, which provides real-time analysis of expenses and data usage. This can be used to identify excess usage, spot any billing irregularities and notify users before they spend too much. It enables companies to proactively manage their environment and automate manual tasks.

In our experience, companies will see savings across a variety of areas when wastage in expenditure is dealt with in a smarter way and eliminated. We have managed to save clients an average of 19% on their mobile voice costs and between 25% and 60% on mobile data.

*OneView Mobile Expense Management from Nebula is a smarter way to get real-time control over and visibility into mobile spending and performance. It’s part of our wider solution for technology expense management and FinOps. Keen to hear more about Nebula and OneView? Get in touch with our knowledgeable experts.