Mobile workforce communication is becoming essential as the workplaces of today undergo a radical change. The traditional 9-5, Monday-Friday workdays are being replaced by a more modern approach to the workforce. Now, more than ever, people are working from home or abroad. ‘Hot-desking’ in different branches and offices is common place and workers are generally spending more time away from their desk.
This flexible attitude to working life is resulting in improved morale and greater productivity. But, it’s fundamentally changing the way business is done. It is making businesses think more about how they communicate with their staff, particularly in urgent situations.
Workers report facing email overwhelm on a daily basis and are beginning to only check emails in timed blocks throughout the week. This has also added to the challenge of mobile workforce communication. It needs a different approach.
A number of solutions have been developed and implemented to try and address the issue of mobile workforce communication.
Of course there’s old fashioned meetings or conversations by the water cooler but we already know that this isn’t feasible with staff members who are off site. Then there’s Skype or other online conferencing platforms. They’re good for meetings and longer conversations but not practical for getting quick and effective communications out to many people at a time.
Perhaps one of the most popular methods, other than email, is instant messaging. This is an approach that allows staff to message each other privately or within groups. While this provides an efficient way for internal communication on the go, it can still be treated by staff as an email-like platform. That means it is checked intermittently and is therefore not suitable for urgent communication. It can also be time consuming to separate staff into different messaging groups.
All it takes is a little push
Push notifications are an under-utilised but more powerful approach for mobile workforce communication. Push Notifications ensure that urgent messages are seen immediately. Alerts are sent directly to staff members’ smartphones, showing up as a notification on their home screen.
Push Notifications also allow businesses to harness the power of geo-locating. That’s targeting people with Push Notifications based on where they are at the time. It’s an ideal solution for reaching staff members with updates specific to their location.
If you’re sending Push Notifications, it likely means that your business has an internal app like Appranet. Your push notifications can link through to specific content within your app ensuring that staff members are directed to any content they need to see.
If you’re interested in exploring how Push Notifications can improve communication in your business visit our Contact page or email ben@puttiapps.com for more information.