The ability to transport mobile device anywhere has huge advantages for the modern workplace, including increased productivity and efficiency. Portability is quite possibly the strongest feature of a mobile device; however, it can also be its weakest. Schools and businesses have to prepare for the worst, as lost, stolen or broken devices can be a bigger problem than people think–yet only 73% of organisations are failing to leverage secure device charging stations?¹ With so many expensive company-owned or school-owned tablets, laptops and phones floating around, this investment needs to be protected, digitally and physically. And in order for companies to meet the goals of a mobile device deployment, devices also need to be ready to use at all times.

Protect Data

If you lost your device, how much would it cost to replace it? Just the cost of the hardware, or more? Would you be surprised to hear that every lost company-owned device could cost your business up to $50,000?²

It’s not just your hardware you are losing. Compromising or losing valuable intellectual property and confidential data can cause a severe business disruption resulting in penalties, reputation damage and wasted employee time. Given the 300% increase in mobile device OS vulnerabilities since 2011³, companies are realising the critical need to protect company and consumer data.

Think of all of the valuable data you store on your laptop, tablet and phone–and then think of how many stories you hear in the news about security threats and data breaches. The fact is, 41% of data breaches are caused by lost or stolen devices⁴, and therefore it is important to have the resources in place to protect yourself by securing your devices with both digital security and also physical security when not in use. Sadly, for businesses and schools, it is often a case of ‘what happens to them won’t happen to us’ until it is too late. Laws now hold individuals personally and fiscally liable in the event of information disclosure, and lost devices can cost your business thousands of dollars in crippling fines. The implications of information falling into the wrong hands can be potentially devastating.

Decrease Costs

Companies spend a massive $1,800 per employee on mobile devices each year⁵. As careful as individuals are with their hardware, 10% of mobile devices will inevitably go missing or get broken during each year of a mobile device deployment⁶. If we look at this conservatively–let’s say a deployment of 100 devices at $300 per device–with 10% breakage and loss, a school or company would lose $3,000 per year just on replacing devices alone.

A centralised point of secure charging helps companies and schools provide a repository for devices, in turn, helping to reduce device breakage, theft and loss. The critical oversight of not protecting your mobile devices when not in use can create painful hassles for employees and administrators alike. By using a secure charging station, you can minimise per-employee device costs.

Converting More Sales

Businesses often deploy mobile devices with the goal of converting more sales, but this can only happen when the device is charged, accessible and ready to use at all times. Your business could be missing opportunities if employees who (often unintentionally) waste time looking for devices when they are stored haphazardly throughout an organisation. Once they successfully locate a device, it could very well be that the device isn’t charged and ready to use. Using a secure, centralised device charging station with a streamlined approach to workflow is key here – otherwise you are relying on individuals to successfully manage shared-use devices.

Improve Communication

Many mobile device initiatives begin with the goal of improving communication. This can be across a business or between staff and their customers. Many businesses are focused on developing a solution that gives employees access to a single platform for communication–but in order to be successful, communication needs to be timely, and needs to keep everyone up-to-date with processes, news and important information. Devices that are not up to date with current or accurate information can stop communication dead in its tracks. And, uncharged or missing devices can lead to slower employee adoption of these processes or missed information.

Increase Efficiency

If portable devices increase productivity, then it’s clear that misplaced or uncharged devices lead to lost productivity. Think of it this way – powered devices empower employees to process business transactions more efficiently and reduce cumbersome manual processes. Mobile devices can shave hours off regular tasks, with apps for online programs, easy access to data on the go and cloud solutions replacing traditional filing. With shared, company-owned devices switching hands several times thought a day, a centralised point of charging is not only more efficient, it is necessary.

Increase Customer Satisfaction

Businesses can never stop improving their customer service. Organisations undertake mobile device deployments to impress customers by faster or more convenient transaction processing, by more accurately inputting data into their system and by more thoroughly collecting helpful customer insights. In today’s fast-paced world, customers now expect instant replies to their customer service questions or issues. Providing devices that make it easy for staff to contact customers is one thing, but you also need to ensure customers have easy access to communicate with your staff as well.

Mobile devices and on-demand charging can offer customers an improved experience, but this is only possible if the device is charged and ready to go.

Ultimately, LocknCharge products help businesses create a secure, efficient and streamlined workflow through centralised, secure charging. We help simplify device management because always know where to find a fully-charged, fully-updated. And if anything goes wrong, there is we provide customer support that goes above and beyond.

Sources:

1. www.lockncharge.com/research
2. Awingu.com
3. https://www-935.ibm.com/services/uk/en/attachments/pdf Securing_mobile_devices_ in_the_business_environment.pdf
4. Forbes article 12.8.17
5. Wandera.com
6. jamf.com, Dodgeglobe.com, Engadget.com, Usatoday.com