Part of our ‘Becoming Information Conscious’ series. We have created a workbook for these exercises using Google Sheets – note you’ll need to be logged into Google to make a copy.
There’s a lot more to come in this chapter and I’m aware that I’m hitting you with a lot of material very quickly, so let’s take a little break for thinking.
Go back to your information flow work from the previous chapters and look at the parts which involve your staff being on the road, or at client sites. For each of these, ask yourself the following questions:
- What information do your people need, and what do they need to do with it? E.g. job details, sales opportunities, stock details
- Is the flow of information to, from, or both to and from the field?
- Which device would be easiest for them to use in this situation (and which do they have)? E.g. Mobile phone, laptop, tablet computer
- What is the ideal way of getting this information moving if cost was no object? E.g. specialised rugged mobile devices with special software
- What is the simplest/most cost effective way of getting the information moving to solve 70–80% of the problem? E.g. send job information by text message and receive response to confirm
Once again, the workbook is the place to fill in your answers.