Rolling Out Mobile at Scale Can be Hard
Before distributing your devices, you want to stage them to be out-of-the-box ready for your end users. Failing to do so can seriously impact solution adoption rates. Kitting is where the device and all the needed peripherals are gathered into one package. Configuration is the actual setup of the device. Kitting and configuration are areas where many organizations struggle because of their inability to achieve the needed scale to roll out hundreds or thousands of devices quickly, efficiently, and accurately.
The configuration process begins with receiving all your devices from the manufacturer and effectively tracking them in an asset tracking platform. You need a way to always know where a device is throughout its entire lifecycle with your organization. At Stratix, we use our proprietary itrac360 platform for a cradle-to-grave view in one place—from procurement, provisioning, and activation to repair, technical support, and decommissioning. Knowing which location or which employee has been assigned which device from the start is critical. If asset tracking is not done well from day one, then an organization will be chasing false or partial data for years.
Your device configuration will depend on how much you intend to do manually before the device is distributed to the end user and how much will be automated. A typical configuration will often include functional testing, enrolling the device with the carrier network along with a Mobile Device Management (MDM), Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM), or Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) platform. Depending on the selected management system, configuration, security, applications, content, and identity management can be continuously updated even after the device is deployed. We'll talk more about continuous device-level support in our third masterclass.
Best practices for configuration include automating the step-by-step loading and a comprehensive checklist for the technician doing the work to ensure no steps are missed.
Hidden Costs of Mobile Lifecycle Management
After the configuration process, you will need to effectively package all the devices for the best end-user experience. Think about all the components to be packaged together and delivered, such as cords, headphones, cases, and instructions. Details such as the box type and labeling of the boxes for efficient deployment need to be thought of, so devices are ready to go at this stage.
Effective kitting includes having a dedicated space and the needed staffing with an organized process for gathering the devices and peripherals together into packages. Quality assurance checks should be done to make sure the devices are functioning as they should, and there are no defects in the peripherals.
Effective deployment includes efficient distribution and asset tracking that gets devices where they need to go when they need to get there. Large deployments are usually quite complex. For example, deploying to one location is easy but deploying to multiple locations requires a lot of coordination and organization, especially if it is deployment to individual employees at their home addresses. Deployment portals where employees can arrange the specifics of deliveries help.
Don't forget change management. You don't want to just hand off devices and expect end users to get on with it. Your mobile solution blueprint should have included how you communicate and offer training and support to make the transition go as smoothly as possible.
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Case Study
One of the nation's largest railroad systems wanted to leverage mobile technology in the field for its conductors to assemble trains and manage pickups and drop-offs along the route.
