Let your workers have control over their technology, argues Paul Hunt, managing director of Phoebus Software
Is the smart phone set to revolutionise the way in which IT mortgage software companies operate? Sounds like cobblers, an elaborate deception perpetrated by the Apple marketing department.
Perhaps not. The advent of the smart phone, and tablets like the iPad, have made it possible for workers to be online in multiple locations, meaning they don’t have to go through the onerous time-wasting process of returning to their desks to collect documents or catch-up on paperwork. It offers employees the chance to work more flexibly, with less rigid office hours. For employers the benefits are obvious. They can save costs through hotdesking, and potentially doing away with offices altogether.
In theory this sounds wonderfully entrepreneurial and innovative, but in practice there are a number of pitfalls. The challenge is picking the right hardware, and software, to allow all staff to work remotely. Technological innovation can be a confusing process, a period of evolution where no one is ever quite sure where it will take them. Generally it’s the employee, not employer, that leads the process. Companies are struggling to understand which are the right technologies to support, and whether to standardise them, with many employees owning multiple different smart phones and laptops. It seems counterproductive to force all employees to use a Blackberry, or an iPad, when there is such a lack of consensus about which device is best. Be pragmatic, don’t set restrictive guidelines on the use of technology, and allow employees to decide for themselves. Not only is this more entrepreneurial, but it also gives workers a sense of freedom that is shown to increase their productivity.
Mortgage professionals need to allow their employees to innovate and use the technologies they feel most comfortable with. All this will equate to a happier workforce who won’t feel like they are being forced by a company-wide directive to use technology they don’t like. Each to his own, as they say.
Another potential pitfall is data security. Traditionally companies have chosen to provide staff with company laptops that are customised and secure. Many employees become frustrated by the seemingly endless layers of data protection measures needed to safeguard corporate networks. Running office software in the cloud is one possible solution, where employees use a virtualised work environment through a dedicated application or internet browser. Such an approach will allow staff to access of common user interface from a raft of different devices, and is the best way to deal with a hardware market that seems to be constantly on the move.
The problem with remote working is that it is considered to be antisocial by some. In some industries, there is a stigma attached to people who work from home as lazy and prone to introversion. The mortgage industry is a people industry. It is easier to conduct business face-to-face, particularly when trying to secure new business.
Allowing employees to work remotely would provide all sort of logistical nightmares for the archetypal middle manager prone to control freakery. The perception is that employees work better when under the watchful gaze of management, so middle managers may feel they are losing control and that their job titles are less justifiable if there isn’t a centralised office culture. This is less of a practical problem than a cultural one, with research showing that productivity actually increases when employees are allowed to work independently.
Rather than struggling to keep up to speed with the a dynamic and ever-changing mobile market, mortgage industry employers need to go with the flow and let employees dictate the influence of mobile working.
