Published Monday, November 19th, 2012, by Mike Sullivan.
Texting while driving can be dangerous – and can even get you pulled over in some cities. But a man in Germany took remote work to a whole new level.
According to The Associated Press, German police say they nabbed a driver who had wired his Ford station wagon with an entire mobile office, creating the equivalent of a virtual office space.
“Built on a wooden frame on his passenger seat they found a laptop on a docking station tilted for easy driver access, a printer, router, wireless internet stick, WLAN antenna, and an inverter to power it all,” the AP reports. “A navigation system and cell phone mounted to the windshield completed the array.”
If this doesn’t show the mobile workforce trend is catching on, what does? As business center owners and operators are well aware, mobile workers are on the rise. But hard statistics drive the point home. By 2015, the world’s mobile worker population will reach 1.3 billion, representing 37.2 percent of the total workforce, according to IDC.
“Despite recent market turmoil, mobility continues to be a critical part of the global workforce and we expect to see healthy growth in the number of mobile workers,” said Stacy Crook, senior research analyst for IDC’s Mobile Enterprise Research program. “Our forecast shows that the worldwide mobile worker population will increase from just over 1 billion in 2010 to more than 1.3 billion by 2015.”
What’s more, Forrester Research estimates 66% of information workers in North America and Europe already work remotely. Over time, Forrester predicts this trend will have profound implications for everything from the location and design of offices, to IT’s provisioning of technology, to how business leaders marshal expertise.
Is your business center ready to accommodate the demands of the mobile workforce? With a mobile workforce working from remote locations, business centers should expect more foot traffic – but business centers that market their serviced office space as mobile worker friendly will lead the charge.
Many mobile workers may be yet unaware of the availability of day offices and meeting rooms. Savvy business centers are commuting the message to large corporations and entrepreneurs alike. How do you do this?
For starters, be sure to include language on your website – preferably an entire webpage – dedicated to marketing your services to mobile workers. Use keywords like “mobile workers” on those web pages so you will come up in the Google search results. Show mobile workers that you understand their needs by listing services that appeal to their pain points. Treat the mobile workforce as a niche – a niche that’s worth plenty as business evolves.
Image source: Saarland State Police, Germany
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Sullivan is an entrepreneur and marketing professional who tries to keep things humming along as best as possible. From time to time, he updates Officing Today, but mostly he can be found on Skype talking with someone about virtual offices. Connect with Mike Sullivan on LinkedIn.
2 Responses to “Mobile Worker Outfits Car as Virtual Office Space”
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was it a Ford Pinto? With today’s technology all of that could be replaced by a smartphone. We should have a contest of the best mobile setups? My whole office fits in my back pack and weighs less than 7 pounds. I’ll be working ala Hemingway today. At RS we are app-y-fying the whole office
I agree that many people can work remotely with just one device however there are many mobile workers in industries that push a lot of paper around or need storage for marketing materials and files. Most people carry more than one device and often times a laptop is in there somewhere for the heavier work. The photo above in this article does identify some of the obvious concerns everyone has for driving while working. The goal for everyone should be to drive safely and work while parked in a secure location.
Regardless, people still work in a vehicle and need to be as productive as possible. Insurance adjusters, pharmaceutical reps, service providers (underground locating, public utilities and service techs) all need to have a productive work environment. Not unlike your home or traditional office, there needs to be a comfortable and productive environment to work. There are already products on the market that secure all of your devices and paperwork in the vehicle (moving objects are one of the biggest distractions for drivers) we focus on keeping everything in place so the mobile worker can focus on the road. You can say that no one should work in a vehicle and especially while driving but the reality is technology is making it easier to work anywhere.
Instead of ignoring this fact, let’s try and create safe alternatives to the above scenario and make it easier for the mobile worker to pull off of the road and conduct business. Visit: http://www.autoexec.com and see what we are doing to create a secure environment.