Don’t forget the back office: exploiting social and mobile to make mid-sized organisations more productive

Don’t forget the back office:
exploiting social and mobile to make
mid-sized organisations more productive
Sponsored by

Don't forget the back office
2 © Source Information Services Ltd 2014
2011
Contents
A note from our sponsor 3
Social and mobile in the back office 4
Advanced’s view on SMAC 5
Methodology 6
Survey 6
Social 7
Lots happening already, but there’s a desire to do much more 7
The focus so far has been predominantly on customers 7
So what about HR, Finance, and IT? 9
Recruitment 9
Collaboration within the organisation 10
Engaging with suppliers and business partners 11
Potential barriers to greater use of social across HR, finance, and IT 12
Mobile 14
Exploiting mobile at home – so why not at work? 14
Three types of back-office mobile workers 17
Size of organisation 18
Function 18
Role 18
Use of own devices 18
Desire to do more 18
Potential barriers to greater use of mobile across HR, finance, and IT 19
Making social and mobile work for your back office 21
Additional data 22

A note from our sponsor
Gartner predictions for 2014 suggest that mobile technology will be a top initiative for
21% of firms. Other research into the impact of social media on company performance
suggests that not only is it a preferred way of sharing news and information about the
company, it also has a positive impact on business results. Click here to download the
Social CEO Infographic
We believe the impact of social and mobile technologies on the back office is only set
to increase, with the current application of these technologies by HR, Finance and IT
only scratching the surface of what is possible. Advanced is working with its clients
on several projects to support the use of social and mobile with IT, HR and Finance,
enabling them to utilise social media and mobile working to improve their own service
delivery to the rest of the business. A selection of these projects include;
• integrating social media communications with the online recruitment process
• deploying mobile expense submissions and approvals to staff on the road
• providing multi-device access to both core back office systems and dashboard
reports
We believe it is consultants and technology vendors like Advanced who should be
leading the way and showing clients what the possibilities are with regards to new
technologies, and to demonstrate how they can further enhance an organisations
performance. This is why we are investing in product development, new innovations
and industry research to help the UK mid-market continue its growth and to help it
remain at the forefront of innovation and profitability.
Simon Fowler
Managing Director
© Source Information Services Ltd 2014 3

Social and mobile in the back
office
According to recent research1, the UK mid-market is thriving. The 34,100 companies2
that comprise this part of the economy generated a turnover of £712 billion in 2013, an
increase of 7.5% on the previous year and accounting for approximately 22% of total
private sector turnover.
Perhaps even more impressive is the finding that productivity, when measured as
average turnover per employee, is 33% higher in the mid-market than in smaller
companies and very slightly higher than in large ones. Research shows, however, that
while the segment’s average productivity outshines the UK business community as a
whole, it lags behind that of its counterparts in much of Europe. What can mid-sized
organisations in the UK do to increase productivity even further?
Source’s research with larger companies clearly shows that technology – particularly
the use of social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC) – is seen as the main factor
that will separate the winners and the losers over the next few years. Employees,
suppliers, partners and customers are starting to expect the same level of innovation,
accessibility and ease of use from their workplace technology as they receive in their
everyday lives. Exploiting these opportunities, however, need not be the preserve of
large corporates; with the days of heavy upfront investment behind us, it is those that
are able to be agile and innovative that are best positioned to exploit the possibilities.
And despite many business reports focusing on the role of social and mobile in
customer-facing functions, these technologies have potential far beyond that arena.
In this report, we have chosen to focus on the possibilities social and mobile
technologies present to mid-sized organisations – not as part of their marketing efforts,
but as tools for improving productivity across their HR, Finance and IT functions in order
to create competitive advantage for the organisation. A second report considering the
opportunities created by analytics and cloud will be published later this year.
Our findings are based on a survey of over 160 UK organisations supplemented by
expert interviews. The message coming through loud and clear is that there is a huge
opportunity to make businesses more productive through leveraging social and mobile
in the back office – and a lot of desire to make the most of the opportunity. Read on to
understand what mid-market companies are doing already, what the experts believe
they ought to be aiming for, and how they might get there.
1 Agents of growth: the power of mid-sized businesses. Grant Thornton.
2 Figures are based on firms with 50 to 499 employees.

Advanced’s view on SMAC
SMAC technologies are the new change agents in enterprise IT. When
implemented, these technologies serve as a synergetic solution for digitally
transforming an organisation to be better equipped for the future of business.
Social technologies allow for the rapid sharing and creation of knowledge over
social network, which enhances collaboration and information distribution across
a business. People are the most valuable asset of any organisation, and social
technologies help unlock the knowledge contained in those individuals, and
facilitate the dissemination of that knowledge to drive business results.
Mobile technologies are continuing to evolve, reshaping the technology
landscape. The growth in smart devices is bringing about an era of ubiquitous
connectivity. Users are now able to access information anywhere at anytime
with ease. Mobility serves as the cost of entry in the consumer market, and those
business seeking to optimise their organisations are already on board with mobile
technologies.
Analytics enhance supply chains, facilitate closed-looped marketing, and
optimise existing customer relationship management processes. The immersive
data processing power of Big Data analytics allows companies to deconstruct
new forms of data in the cloud, which generates unprecedented insight scalable
to enable smart boardroom decision making in real time.
Cloud technology is in the linchpin of the SMAC stack – and it is quickly becoming
the new foundation of the IT ecosystem. Cloud computing lends businesses
a newfound agility, breaking down the barriers of geography and cutting the
costs associated with physical server maintenance. With limitless scalability,
the cloud powers the transformative combination of social, mobile, and analytic
technologies.
Examples of social and mobile in the back office:
• Mobile apps for managing receipts and expenses, allowing users to submit,
approve or reject expense claims on the move.
• Secure finance apps to procure, review or approve supplier invoices while on
the road.
• Mobile invoicing and CRM access via mobile devices.
• Understanding the impact on increased payments made by ‘mobile money’.
• Social listening technologies that monitor online conversations to identify
trends or news impacting finance, key accounts or the business.
• Changing the way finance, HR & IT communicates with employees.

Methodology
Survey
We ran an online survey in July 2014 and collected 162 responses representing a wide
range of organisations in the UK mid-market.
Respondent
function
Respondent level
of responsibility
Finance
IT
HR
General management
Other
Top management team or board
Senior manager (but not top team)
41%
30%
22%
5%
2%
15%
Manager
Employee
26%
40%
19%
Interviewees
We interviewed 8 consultants about the use of social and mobile in the UK mid-market.
Adi Gaskell Social Business Advisor Freelance consultant and author
Ben Barry Director Coeus Consulting
Charlie Mayes Managing Director DAV Management
James Herbert Managing Director Methods Digital
James Potter Director The LinkedIn Man
Oliver Colling Director North Highland
Steve King CEO Black Swan
Steve Watmough CEO Mason Advisory
Figure 1
Figure 2

Social
Lots happening already, but there’s a
desire to do much more
Not too long ago, social was the preserve of the young. Back in 2006, based on US
data3, just 8% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 4% of 50- to 64-year-olds were using social
networking sites – way behind the 49% of 18- to 29-year-olds doing the same. But it’s
now 2014, and the vast majority of us across all age groups are using these tools: the
82% of 30- to 49-year-olds and 65% of 50- to 64-year-olds using social media looks not
all that dissimilar to the 89% of 18- to 29-year-olds also doing so.
Given the rapid increase in personal use of social networks across all age groups, it
should come as no surprise that 80% of respondents have seen an increase in the use
of social media in their organisation over the past two years. And those we spoke to
believe this isn’t enough: 79% of respondents believe that social media should be used
more. And keep in mind that these are respondents from the back office, who are not
generally viewed as natural social media advocates.
The focus so far has been predominantly
on customers
As suspected, social media efforts have been most pronounced in marketing and sales
and are most likely to be aimed at customers and potential customers. According to our
survey, 86% of organisations use social media to market themselves externally, 75% to
understand what customers and potential customers are saying about them, and 69%
to respond to queries and comments from customers and potential customers. Even so,
nearly two-thirds of respondents believe that their organisation ought to be doing more
in the first two areas and nearly half would like to see more done in the third.
From a productivity perspective, one of the biggest challenges is linking this data to
internal CRM systems. But as Ben Barry at Coeus Consulting explains, this is hardly a
new concern: “This issue – linking disparate sources of data about customers – has
always been around. Social media simply creates additional sources of data. I don’t
know of any organisation that has a perfect link between its sales force, its CRM
system, and digital. Sometimes, smaller organisations are much better than large ones.”
The fourth best-established use of social media is also related to customers: providing
guides on how to use a specific product or service. Fifty-two percent of organisations
say they use social media this way.
3 Pew Research Internet Project; Social media use by age group over time.

How much does your organisation use social media today compared to two years ago?
Externally (to customers, 19% 56% 24%
65% 29% 6%
No change
Increase
Significant increase
43% 43%
39%
36%
22%
21%
17%
16%
30%
38%
28%
25%
13%
33%
Established
Used somewhat
Should be used more
prospects, suppliers etc)
Internally (to staff)
To market your organisation
externally
To understand what customers and
potential customers are saying about
your organisation to each other
To respond to queries and comments
from customers and potential customers
made to your social media accounts
To provide guides on how to use a
specific product or service
To engage with potential employees
(selling yourself as an employer or
responding to queries)
To find sources of support and
answers to questions within your
organisation
To generate conversations within your
organisation amongst employees
60%
36%
33%
47%
61%
58%
62%
61%
54%
58%
To engage with suppliers and
business partners
Figure 3
Figure 4 Is social media used for any of the following purposes within your organisation?

So what about HR, Finance, and IT?
We know from our survey that members of the HR, finance, and IT communities are
enthusiastic about their organisations using social media, but how can it be used to
make the back office more productive? Three key areas were highlighted by both survey
respondents and consultants: recruitment, collaboration within the organisation, and
engaging with suppliers and business partners.
Recruitment
According to our respondents, 21% of mid-market organisations have an established
approach to using social media to engage with potential employees, and another 38%
are using social in this way at least occasionally. This seems like quite a low take-up
when we consider the many widely-recognised benefits of doing so, including4:
• Reaching a broader pool of likely candidates by making it easy for employees and
others to send open position information rapidly to friends and colleagues through
their network connections.
• Building your firm’s brand and attracting new recruits through firm pages that are
able to give a multi-dimensional view of your organisational culture. These same
pages can be used to enter into conversation with people who express interest.
• Identifying red flags about candidates early in the process (before too much time is
invested) through searches on social media.
• Getting first-hand feedback about potential recruits through friends and colleagues
who are linked to the potential applicant. As Steve Watmough at Mason Advisory
says, “I find LinkedIn very useful for indirect referencing of candidates. We do this
ourselves as could any business, whatever their size.”
In addition, Adi Gaskell, adigaskell.org, pointed out that social media can be used to
keep in contact with ex-employees whose experience and knowledge can be valuable:
“There’s an opportunity that some firms are beginning to explore in creating a ‘talent
community’ made up of people before, during, and after employment. Firms of any size
could benefit from maintaining such a network.”
Social also provides an opportunity to access resources that you can’t afford or don’t
want to have in house – not only can you can reach people you wouldn’t normally be able
to reach, but you can see what others think about them. Social can enable you to find a
researcher based in India or an expert who can bring fresh perspectives and insights.
“Social networks offer a huge opportunity in allowing companies of any size to access
intellectual property that isn’t being currently utilised,” says Gaskell. “Quirky and Marblar
are examples of innovation communities – firms can monitor these communities to identify
opportunities that they would like to invest in. Whoever you work for, the smartest people
tend to be elsewhere. If you’re a small company, social is fantastic.”
While organisations may be slow to leverage social media in the recruitment process,
employees themselves recognise these benefits, with 62% saying they should be doing
more. As Gaskell says, “Social as a recruitment tool is a trend that isn’t going to go away.”
% of respondents
saying social media
should be used
more to engage with
potential employees
62% 62% 61% 66%
All respondents HR Finance IT
4 List generated through online research, in particular Bersin’s report on Modernizing the way we hire.

Collaboration within the organisation
According to our survey, social media is established as a way of finding sources of
support and answers to questions in 17% of organisations and is used somewhat for
these purposes in another 28%. Sixteen percent of organisations describe social media
as an established tool to generate conversation and another 25% say it is used this way
to some degree. And this is an area where members of the HR, Finance, and IT functions
clearly see further potential with 61% saying they believe that their organisation ought
to be doing more with internal social networks.
And perhaps they’re right. According to Forrester5, customers of a leading internal
social network provider typically see a 365% return on investment over three years.
Benefits identified include:
• Visible collaboration and communication leading to project cost savings from
deduplication of work and reorganisation of processes.
• Improved employee productivity for engaged users due to information-sharing and
better access to expertise.
• Higher employee engagement.
• Improved vertical communication between company leadership and employees.
These benefits were reflected in our own interviews about the potential benefits of
internal social networking for smaller companies. For example, Steve King of Black
Swan Data says, “I’ve seen internal social networks work well. They can be really
helpful for organisations that have a disparate workforce. They are able to spot, very
quickly, common issues and to take action.” Charles Mayes of Dev Management adds,
“Although difficult to measure, smaller companies can certainly reap the rewards of
improved employee satisfaction and better collaboration.”
From our survey, it’s clear that people in the back office recognise many of these
benefits (see figure 5).
Figure 5 What are your thoughts on using social media internally (within your organisation)?
13% 72% 15% Provides a permanent,
21% 60% 19%
22% 24%
21% 31%
Strongly agree
Agree
Disagree
easily accessible record
of discussions
Makes it easier for people to
get involved in key issues
Helps to improve
employee engagement
Helps to cut down
unnecessary email
5 The total economic impact of Yammer; Forrester.
55%
48%

Adi Gaskell points to the additional benefit of greater innovation. “There’s a lot of
interesting work happening on internal innovation where organisations open up idea
generation and decision-making to the entire organisation. IBM has used ‘jams’ since
2001 to involve its employees in exploration and decision-making. This approach can
be equally valuable to small organisations.” While innovation may most immediately
conjure images of product or service development, it’s equally applicable to HR, finance,
and IT functions looking to change the way they work.
Gaskell also highlights that internal social networks can be really helpful in training
employees. “We are increasingly seeing firms using internal collaboration networks
for social learning. People join an online course where they receive formal training
combined with the opportunity to discuss what they’re learning on a social network.
This experience is both immersive and flexible.”
We consider some of the barriers to effective use of social later in this report, but
already clear from the list above is that social as a collaboration tool is well worth
considering.
% of respondents saying
social media should
be used more to find
sources of support and
answers to questions
within the organisation
% of respondents
saying social media
should be used
more to generate
conversation within
the organisation
63%
HR
68%
HR
61%
All respondents
54%
All respondents
60%
Finance
40%
Finance
65%
IT
63%
IT
Engaging with suppliers and business partners
Based on our survey results, social media is established as a means of engaging with
suppliers and business partners in only 13% of organisations and used somewhat to this
end in another third.
When people think about social media for interacting with suppliers and business
partners, they typically focus on LinkedIn, and our interviewees were enthusiastic
about its use. For example, Steve Watmough at Mason Advisory, said “LinkedIn can
be a great source of information for businesses of any size. It’s a really useful tool for
identifying new opportunities.” Benefits identified include:
• Identifying potential suppliers and business partners.
• Vetting potential suppliers and business partners.
• Building stronger relationships with suppliers and business partners that can lead
to mutually beneficial opportunities.

For too many business however, LinkedIn is seen purely as a recruitment tool, which
dramatically underplays its potential. According to James Potter, who works under the
name ‘The LinkedIn Man’, “There is no one in your firm who shouldn’t be on LinkedIn.
Having a strong coverage gives you access to potential customers, suppliers and
partners. I ask people who they would like to be able to access (eg potential customers
or suppliers), and they are usually astounded by how many relevant people are on
LinkedIn even within a tight geographic area.” He went on to say, “Firms are definitely
optimistic about their use of LinkedIn. What they are doing is using what they see as
LinkedIn – people see 5-10% of the true functionality. I would say, in reality, fewer than
5% of firms are using LinkedIn well.”
So, we asked Potter about what people get wrong. Firstly, their profile: “Almost
every profile I look at could be much better. People fail to explain what is special
about themselves, which means that firms in turn are missing a great opportunity.”
Secondly, their approach to making connections: “There is a preconception that we
should connect with everybody. This is wrong. The value comes from connecting with
good people who you know.” And thirdly, their approach to maintaining these valuable
relationships: “People shouldn’t treat every type of social media in the same way. On
Twitter, it’s fine to tweet 10 times per day. If you do that on LinkedIn, you would alienate
your audience. Other people get it wrong in a different way: they fail to spend time
maintaining their relationships on LinkedIn.”
While few have seen LinkedIn being used to engage with suppliers and business
partners effectively, many still have a strong sense of social media’s potential, with a
huge 58% of respondents believe their organisation should be doing more in this arena.
% of respondents
saying social media
should be used
more to engage
with suppliers and
business partners
58% 47% 61% 61%
All respondents HR Finance IT
Potential barriers to greater use of social across HR,
finance, and IT
Given the recognised benefits of using social media and the desire of people across
HR, finance, and IT to use it more, we have to ask what is stopping organisations from
making the most of the opportunities it presents for improving productivity in the back
office? No doubt part of the issue, is a lack of time and resources: mid-sized companies
struggle to find the spare money or people make changes, particularly when it comes to
the back office where there is no external demand for improvement. Our interviewees
pointed to additional barriers specific to the topic of social media:
• A fear that using social media means losing control:
Steve King at Black Swan Data:
For these networks to be successful, firms have to be willing to allow employees to
speak freely. You will get comments you don’t like, and you need to be willing to take
them on the chin – and to have the processes in place to respond.

Oliver Colling from North Highland:
Management is typically older, and with this comes a concern that they can’t control
social media. Instead of encouraging, supporting and enabling it, they often choose
to prevent it being used. Yet employees are very comfortable with Facebook, Twitter,
etc. It doesn’t reflect well on managers who don’t recognise what is going on. Firms
need to make a choice about what should and shouldn’t happen.
• A failure to make a strategic choice about both the goal and the tools to be used:
Steve Watmough at Mason Advisory:
There’s a risk of internal social networks becoming a time sink for employees with
potentially very little benefit to the business. To use them productively, firms need
to have a clear purpose, for example, asking questions such as ‘What are the top 10
things we should be doing differently?’
James Herbert at Methods Digital:
The issue most companies face is a lack of strategic choice about what tools and
platforms to use. What business capability are you trying to deliver? Then pick the
right tools, communicate them, and ensure that people adopt them. Leaders need to
use them.
• Lack of investment in process and culture change:
Adi Gaskell at adigaskell.org:
Too many firms are sold on the idea of the idea, and investment in the technology
comes a lot sooner than the investment in the culture and process change that is
needed to underpin that. You can’t just buy an enterprise social network. If people
don’t have the time or incentive to help other people, why would they? For example, if
decision making is hierarchical rather than knowledge-based, there will be very little
incentive for people to contribute.
Oliver Colling at North Highland:
There’s a danger that it is simply a fad. ‘Let’s use social media; let’s set up some kind
of app to promote all these great things.’ But unless you continue to use it and work at
it, it very quickly fails. You need some kind of dedicated resource to update it, push it.
Often it’s the older users who share ideas and ask for help who become the biggest
advocates. But you have to work hard to get to that point and you have to ensure that
there is something in it for everybody.
We suspect that underpinning these visible barriers, at least in some organisations, is
a belief that social is a trend that won’t last for long, and that even though people of all
ages are using social in their personal life, it’s not really relevant to the business world.
Based on our research and conversations, we don’t agree.

Mobile
Exploiting mobile at home – so why not
at work?
Our survey respondents’ view on mobile sounds very familiar to their view on social:
this is something I find valuable in my personal life, so why can’t we make more of it at
work? Nearly two-thirds of respondents (62%) agreed with the statement ‘I would like
to do more using a smartphone or tablet.’ Whether it’s an HR task (managing holidays,
reporting absences, completing timesheets) or one relating to finance (approving
invoices or purchase orders), employees across all functions would like to be able to do
these tasks using their smartphone or tablet (see figure 6).
Figure 6 Can you do any of the following using a smartphone or tablet (excluding carrying out these
activities by sending an email via the mobile device)?
23%
21%
25%
25%
50%
47%
22% 44%
23%
29%
16%
9%
10%
56%
46%
20%
17%
41%
36%
31%
Available
Not available but I would like to be able to do this
Submit holiday requests
Report absences
Approve a holiday request
Submit an expense claim
Approve an expense claim
Approve invoices or purchase orders
Access payslips, P11Ds, P60s etc.
Complete timesheets
Access information about available shifts
Confirm availability for available shifts

Figure 7 Respondents currently carrying out activities via a smartphone or tablet
Finance
IT
HR
58%
13%
7%
18%
20%
9%
7%
14%
4%
92%
16%
19%
40%
49%
24%
22%
49%
17%
12%
31%
31%
17%
6%
22%
Access to
financial
information
Access to
documents
you’re
working on
Access to
employee
self-service
or the
intranet
Email
Access to
supplier
information
Access to
the core
HR system
Access
to key
performance
metrics and/
or analysis
of business
performance
Access to
customer
information
/ CRM
Respondents who would like to be able to carry out activities via a smartphone or tablet but can’t
3%
37%
20%
35%
23%
32%
23%
21%
0%
20%
19%
34%
18%
41%
28%
22%
22%
5%
17%
12%
39%
14%
16%
54%
Access to
financial
information
Access to
documents
you’re
working on
Access to
employee
self-service
or the
intranet
Email
Access to
supplier
information
Access to
the core
HR system
Access
to key
performance
metrics and/
or analysis
of business
performance
Access to
customer
information
/ CRM

More than any other work-related task, people are using mobile for email (see figure 7).
Those in the IT function are leading the way with 92% saying they access email through
a smartphone or tablet, followed by 58% of finance respondents and 49% of those in
HR. Our survey suggests that almost anyone who wants to manage their email this
way is already able to do so and that firms have recognised the productivity benefits
of allowing employees to access these accounts wherever they are. Fewer people are
able to access documents via mobile, yet a significant majority say they would like to do
so. As Charlie Mayes at Dav Management says, “Phones have become a mobile office.
They make email easy but also provide diaries and contact lists, and if you have the right
software, access to documents. Smaller companies can benefit from this technology as
much as larger companies, and it means people can be productive no matter where they
are.” Other interviewees pointed to the benefits of mobility in terms of recruitment and
retention. Allowing people to work away from their desk can significantly increase the
pool of potential applicants for any role, and can help retain those already employed.
Yet there was a strong sense among interviewees that the focus on mobility, if there
has been one, has been around the customer. Charlie Mayes explains, “Mid-market
companies are definitely not as advanced as larger companies in terms of back office
mobility. However, people are certainly looking at the opportunities and talking about
it.” And Steve Watmough at Mason Advisory says, “Most of the investment in mobile
has gone into apps for customers. Firms have been less proactive in thinking about
their own employees, yet there are huge potential benefits there. I think we will see a
massive change over the next 2-3 years.”
It is clear that there is plenty of demand from employees to be able to do more – and
to do it more easily – using mobile devices. Take for example customer and supplier
information. Overall, 17% of respondents said they would like mobile access to
customer information but don’t have it at present. A similar percentage (20%) would like
mobile access to supplier information, and no doubt employees who are out on the road
meeting customers would be even keener to have easy access to this information.
Not surprisingly, members of the finance function are keenest to have mobile access
to financial information with over a third (37%) saying this is something they can’t do at
present but would like to. This probably reflects a desire to be able to work wherever
they are but perhaps also to have easy access to information in meetings and to engage
in discussions with other functions.
There is pull from employees across HR, finance, and IT for mobile access to key
performance metrics and/or analysis of business performance, with a third of
respondents saying they want this. Interviewees were very positive about the impact
this can have in terms of creating alignment across the organisation: “Giving people
easy access to up-to-date information about key elements of the business can have a
positive impact,“ said Steve King at Black Swan Data. “If you get the metrics right, it
encourages people to focus on what really matters. It also allows businesses to respond
very quickly to issues.“
Again there was interest across all three functions in mobile access to employee
self-service or the intranet, with 35% of respondents saying they’d like to see
this. Interviewees highlighted the benefits of employee self-service both from the
perspective of the employee wishing to carry out the task and the person or department
who would previously have been forced to get involved. “A really quick win is employee
self-service,” said Oliver Colling at North Highland. “Employees only want to know a
few things – when do I get paid, how much have I been paid, how many days’ holiday do
I have left, who do I let know if I can’t get into the office. If you give someone the facility
to do that on their phone, that is a huge win. They see the value straight away. And line
managers appreciate it because it cuts back the noise.”

Three types of back-office
mobile workers
In order to gain a better understanding of mobile working, we segmented respondents into
three groups: no mobile (those who do no work-related tasks using mobile), medium mobile
(those who use mobile devices predominantly for emails and/or calls), and high mobile
(those who also access their organisation’s systems and/or or use work-related apps).
Figure 8 Views on mobile by mobile usage
Segment No mobile Medium mobile High mobile
% of all respondents 19% 38% 44%
Use of mobile devices 79% for voice calls 96% for voice calls
for work-related tasks 21% for video calls 55% for video calls
79% for email 100% for email
67% for finding information 96% for finding information
on the Internet on the Internet
11% accessing organisation’s 87% accessing organisation’s
systems via the Internet systems via the Internet
5% using apps provided by 66% using apps provided by
organisation organisation
Average revenue £65m £85m £150m
% of respondents 26% of finance 44% of finance 30% of finance
by function 4% of IT 38% of IT 58% of IT
31% of HR 31% of HR 39% of HR
% of respondents by role 35% of employees 39% of employees 26% of employees
19% of managers 44% of managers 38% of managers
14% of senior managers 36% of senior managers 50% of senior managers
4% of top management team 24% of top management team 72% of top management team
or board or board or board
Personal ownership Smartphone: 60% Smartphone: 82% (39% use Smartphone: 68% (51% use
Tablet: 63% for work calls, 39% use for for work calls, 48% use for
work emails) work emails)
Tablet: 52% (20% use Tablet: 72% (45% use
for work emails) for work emails)
96% don’t want to use own 70% don’t want to use own 41% don’t want to use own
devices for work purposes devices for work purposes devices for work purposes
59% are not allowed to use 52% are not allowed to use 33% are not allowed to use
own devices for work own devices for work own devices for work
purposes purposes purposes
Provided by employer Smartphone: 0% Smartphone: 48% Smartphone: 73%
Tablet: 0% Tablet: 10% Tablet: 37%
% saying they would 35% 56% 77%
like to do more using a
smartphone or tablet

Size of organisation
While high mobile workers are, on average, more likely to be found in larger
organisations than no mobile workers, they can be found in organisations of all sizes.
Organisations of any size are in a position to make their workforce more mobile. “Even
in smaller companies, there is a lot of movement of people,” says Charles Mayes of
Dave Management. “Mobile is integral to how any business works these days. Everyone
is catching up as technology becomes more affordable.”
Function
IT has the greatest proportion of high mobile respondents with 58% of IT respondents
classified as high mobile versus 39% of HR respondents and 30% of finance
respondents. Just 4% of IT respondents are no mobile, compared to 26% of finance
and 31% of HR respondents. Given there is no obvious need for IT employees to be
more mobile than their peers in HR and finance, this may point to personal interest
in technology driving use of mobile – or perhaps even the IT function ensuring that
its own employees are mobile before that of other back office functions. How many
opportunities are being missed because of a lack of focus on HR and finance? Is it time
to objectively assess where the benefits lie?
Role
Based on our data, the more senior you are the more likely you are to be highly mobile.
But does this reflect need or rather the ability to influence the decision? James Herbert
at Methods Digital errs towards the latter interpretation, saying “There’s a paradox
with mobile working in that it’s generally been the preserve of managers and executives
who actually only need Microsoft Word and Excel. A lot less time has been given to
making social workers or maintenance people mobile. It’s been the selfish preserve
of the suits. Thinking about the public sector, the vast majority of people in the field
basically have to go back into the town hall to update the system. It’s time to invest in
making mobile working easy for these people.” As with function, so with role: is it time
to objectively assess where the biggest opportunities exist?
Use of own devices
Much has been written about the prevalence and benefits of allowing employees to use
their own devices for work purposes, commonly known as ‘bring your own device’ or
BYOD. According to a recent study6, 30% of mobile users say they would rather work
in an environment where they are given corporate devices to use, compared with 49%
who prefer BYOD. As Oliver Colling at North Highland comments, “There’s evidence
that many users are happier using their own device rather than one chosen by their
organisation – people feel much more empowered.” In our own research, the more
mobile the user, the more likely they are to want to use their own device.
The research mentioned above highlights significant savings for companies that
effectively manage BYOD. Given that many employees want to use their own devices,
it’s clearly a route worth considering for companies of any size.
Desire to do more
Our segmentation highlights a virtuous circle with respect to mobile: the more you
already do, the more you’re likely to say you want to do even more. This is a challenge
to those firms that believe their employees don’t wish to be mobile: perhaps with a little
push in the right direction they would begin to see the benefits.
6 The financial impact of BYOD; Cisco 2013

Potential barriers to greater use of
mobile across HR, finance, and IT
Given the recognised benefits of mobile and the desire among people across HR,
finance, and IT to use it more, what is stopping organisations from making the most
of mobile in improving the productivity of the back office? And the first obstacle we
identified to using social is equally relevant here – namely a lack of time and resources.
As previously noted, mid-sized companies already struggle to find the spare money
or people necessary to make changes, and the challenge can be even greater when it
comes to the back office, where there is no external demand for improvement. Charlie
Mayes at Dav Management summed up this view saying, “It’s not just about investment,
which is definitely becoming less of a hurdle, but about time. Mid-market companies
are very time constrained, and it takes time to put in the discipline and the processes
to make the most of new technology. The easy bit is the technology. We have a client
at present that is looking at remote, potentially mobile, access for expenses and HR for
their employees but they’re a long way from being clear about how that will happen and
how it will be controlled. It’s hard for them to get up and running.”
As well as speaking to interviewees, we also asked survey respondents what they
saw as barriers to using mobile (figure 9). Some of these responses relate to what
is stopping the individual (ie, lack of device, lack of apps, a desk-based job, or a
preference for a laptop rather than tablet or phone) rather than what is stopping the
organisation. And no doubt many of these reasons are interlinked – for example, people
may prefer to use a laptop because the mobile functionality that is provided isn’t very
good. “Senior people don’t spend enough time in the field, so they don’t experience the
limitations,” says James Herbert at Methods Digital. “If they did, there would definitely
be greater investment in tools for mobile workers.” Oliver Colling at North Highland
highlights that even with the right technology in place, there might still be a need to
convince employees of the benefits: “One of the biggest challenges is winning people
over. I was working with a business that wanted to automate payment authorisations.
One of the managers was very against it and argued that he likes to see the paper
documents. However, once it was in place, he was telling people about how great it was
to sit on a train and authorise payments on his BlackBerry.”
The survey also highlighted, very starkly, that many organisations remain concerned
about security issues when it comes to mobile working, with four out of five
respondents believing this to be a barrier. However, the reality is that most large firms
are successfully using mobile and there is plenty of guidance and support available. Our
interviewees were in strong agreement that security issues shouldn’t prevent mid-sized
firms from making the most of mobile’s opportunities.
James Herbert points out the concerns are often rooted in false comparisons. “Quite
often, concerns about security don’t stand up to interrogation. Too often, people
make comparisons with a world of perfect security rather than the world we live in
where people are using paper and memory sticks. The question should be: is it better
than what we are doing now? Organisations also need to identify different levels of
sensitivity of data – typically, only a small proportion is truly sensitive.” Finally, Oliver
Colling at North Highland adds, “Security issues are what people point to when they
haven’t explored how to use mobile in detail. The evidence suggests that mobile can
be just as secure, if not more so, than some current approaches. There are lots of
organisations out there doing this – why should your organisation be any different?”

Figure 9 Perceived barriers to mobile
I am concerned about
security issues
My employer is concerned
about security issues
I don’t have access to such
devices – personally or
through work
My employer doesn’t provide the
apps needed or access to company
systems via a mobile device
Some of our software suppliers
offer mobile functionality but
we have chosen not to adopt it
I don’t see any need as my job
is mainly desk-based
I prefer to use a laptop or PC
Although possible, it’s too
difficult to do what I need to do
using a smartphone or tablet
High mobile
Mid mobile
No mobile
70%
80%
78%
0%
62%
58%
53%
27%
65%
61%
64%
53%
52%
83%
0%
45%
78%
80%
61%
36%
74%
86%
82%
77%

Making social and mobile work for your
back office
The clear message coming from our research is that both social and mobile can deliver
significant benefits to HR, finance and, IT functions in mid-sized organisations – and
that employees are very keen to make more of these opportunities.
Benefit Social Mobile
More efficient, Employees able to work and access data wherever they are 3
effective employees Improved employee engagement 3 3
Alignment against key goals and metrics 3 3
Avoided duplication of effort through greater awareness 3
Easy access to skills and knowledge 3
More innovation 3
Ability to respond quickly to requests from other parts of 3
the organisation
More efficient, Ability to find and vet suppliers and business partners 3
effective ecosystem
More efficient, Access to a broader pool of qualified potential employees 3 3
effective recruitment Ability to attract employees 3 3
Getting first-hand feedback about potential employees 3
So what does it take to overcome the potential barriers in order to realise these
benefits?
• Awareness of what is possible. Have you researched what other firms are doing
and/or spoken to experts in these fields?
• A clear view on what you want to achieve – and how this will happen. According
to our interviewees, too many organisations have isolated initiatives driven by an
enthusiastic individual. Instead, there needs to be a clear plan driven by the benefits
to the bottom line.
• Willingness to say ‘no’. Unlike traditional technology, individuals can choose
themselves to use some social and mobile tools. However, if organisations are to
reap maximum benefits they must focus on those agreed upon. “Everyone has their
favourite tool,” explained James Herbert at Methods Digital. “There is no one ideal
solution; everything has pros and cons. But you can’t allow the continued use of
multiple tools for one purpose. You wouldn’t have allowed some people to use Lotus
notes, some people Gmail, and some people Microsoft. Firms need to consider the
options, but then they need to make choices and stick to those choices.”
• Start with the quick wins. Like any change project, once you know where you’re
going it’s best to start with the quick wins – high impact, easier to implement items –
that will demonstrate value and motivate employees.
• Personally validate social and mobile. Interviewees pointed out the importance of
senior managers actively using social and mobile. If they are to become a core part
of the business, they need to be seen as valued at the very top.

46%
32m
39%
15m
35%
10m
31%
28%
25% 40%
22%
16%
12%
11%
3%
6%
3%
21%
Established
Used somewhat
32%
28%
43%
Social media users7
Additional data
Figure 10 Organisations’ use of social media
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
Blogs
YouTube / videos
Forums
Google+
3%
2%
2%
37%
Yammer
SlideShare
WhatsApp
Instagram
7 Source: UK Social Media Statistics for 2014

About Advanced Business Solutions
Advanced Business Solutions (Advanced) provides leading integrated business applications and services that enable public,
private and third sector organisations to retain control, improve visibility and gain efficiencies whilst continually improving
corporate performance. Advanced prides itself on getting close to its customers by understanding their businesses and
responding to their evolving needs. Advanced’s software systems comprise core accounting/financial management,
procurement, human resource and payroll systems, supply chain management and specialist vertical and generic CRM
integrated with a range of collaborative, document management and business intelligence solutions to extend the value
and effectiveness of the finance, human resource and payroll departments. These can be delivered as a managed or bureau
service. Customers are from both the public and private sectors and include Companies House, Newcastle City Council, WH
Smith, Royal Bank of Scotland, Aer Lingus, National Express Group, DFS, RSPB and Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children
NHS Trust. Advanced Business Solutions is a division of Advanced Computer Software Group plc, a leading supplier of
software and IT services to the health, care and business services sectors.
For further information, please visit www.advancedcomputersoftware.com

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Don’t forget the back office: exploiting social and mobile to make mid-sized organisations more productive

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Don’t forget the back office: exploiting social and mobile to make mid-sized organisations more productive