4G – the new era for collaboration and productivity

From facilities management to logistics to construction and engineering – any organisation with a large mobile workforce will tell you how reliant they are on their mobile networks to be able to operate effectively out on the road. Mobile connectivity is vital to business success.

Over time, the development of mobile technology has made staying connected even easier and more cost effective. But the recent launch of our 4G service has opened the floodgates to a wave of new and exciting ways to serve customers more efficiently, enhance internal processes and make more agile decision making, wherever employees are.

4G is not all about speed.  The capacity and stability of 4G means that we’ll all be able to do much more on the move.

In practice

On a building site, a contractor armed with a tablet and 4G can do a HD video walkthrough for the engineer back at base, saving them from having to make a site visit in person. And they can update and swap large CAD files from where they’re each working, maximising convenience and productive time for both of them.

Or a facilities management team without in-building wifi access on a customer site can still run systems and applications seamlessly.

4G will also help organisations to reduce travel costs, as employees won’t need to move around to communicate with one another or collaborate effectively across dispersed teams.  Tools such as Microsoft Lync, which helps bring together all communications – voice, video, and instant messaging onto a single device – will work better with 4G, providing an even more seamless experience.

We’ll start to see pop up sites or offices and command and control centres that have all the capabilities of a fixed site.  No more waiting to be connected via a physical internet link for new branches or office sites. You’ll be able to use a 4G mobile wifi device which turns the 4G connection into a mobile wifi hotspot – allowing employees instant access to the head office  network, information and data – without the need for a physical connection.

Getting ready

All of this means we can expect to see a much richer flow of data from the front line back to your corporate network.  But how is all this data going to affect your back office, how are you going to store and manage the data and keep track of it for security and audit purposes?   Rather than wait and see what 4G brings, now is a good time to think about ensuring that your networks and policies are ready to handle the new volumes and types of traffic. That way you can make the most of the benefits 4G will deliver.

To find out more about 4G and how to get your business’ networks ready just call me on 07715 202 543 or visit o2.co.uk/enterprise/4g.