What Your Mobility Program And The Rolling Stones Have in Common

And while it may not be discussed prior to hitting the stage each evening, the guys know everyone has their part to play. Each man brings to the stage their specific talent and the combined effect is magical.

As work becomes more mobile and organizations develop strategies for supporting mobility, we recognize that defining and implementing our own version of a mobility program is a delicate balancing act. We need the right people on stage from the start. By gathering our mobility rock stars, we’re able to figure out what sounds good—to find the right tempo for our people to move to.

Since we all have our own ideas about what mobility should be, it’s important to determine what mobility is for both your users and your organization. The best place to start is to bring in the actual users, whether they be field sales or tech-heavy engineers, and allow them  help you build your use case scenarios: what behaviors you’ll be supporting, how users will be interacting, and how the program will support the business’ overall goals. Think of them as your Mic Jagger—figure out how far they want to move around on the stage and, as your front man, let them loose. Like Mic, they likely won’t disappoint.

The right mix of space is important because it encourages mobile users to come back to the office to collaborate, and the goal is to sell out the show.

Next is your rhythm section with HR keeping a strong, consistent beat on the bass and drums. Their purpose will be to ensure the use case is aligned with leadership’s defined vision for the program as well as company policies, expectations and values. As mobility opens the door to new opportunities, it also begs many new questions that you’ll want your HR and/or legal counsel to address—for example, what happens if an employee gets injured outside the office? Not everyone can keep a beat, but if you engage your HR team from the start, you can avoid the struggles many organizations have trying to answer these questions after the fact.

Now you’re ready to lay down some lead guitar and your facilities or corporate real estate team will be your Keith Richards. They build off of the sound and cadence of the whole group, creating the appropriate work environment to best support your program, whether that be determining number of seats required or developing supportive space applications. This is important because the right mix of space encourages mobile users to come back to the office to collaborate, and the goal is to sell out the show.

But you won’t hear of the Stones playing a venue without a thorough sound check—this is where IT and IT Security comes in. IT tells you the processes needing support and which systems across your company those will involve, while the security side ensures those processes and systems are guarded. Trust your IT pro’s to get all the necessary systems in place and working in tandem so you can avoid the microphone feedback that makes everyone cringe.

As we’ve all learned, with freedom comes responsibility—and even figuring out which questions to ask regarding mobility is an undertaking. But like most tasks that we find overwhelming, the hardest part is getting started. You can’t sell out a show before you assemble the band. And you definitely won’t make the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame without a bit of practice. So how can you map the best path? Whether you’re tweaking your existing program or starting fresh, the answer to the ‘how’ is actually in the ‘who’ (and no we don’t mean Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend)—it’s the people you need to make mobility happen.