Ask them whether they can then use the device to accomplish work-related tasks while on the go, they’ll say, well…not so much.

mWork is enhanced for many with a range of productivity, utility, and multifunctional apps available for Android, Apple, and BlackBerry platforms. Third party app developers are rolling out thousands of slick titles, and we’re willing to pay for them. Consequently, FastCompany hailed 2010 as the year of the app, and Pew Internet concurs, with their new research report on “The Rise of Apps Culture.”

Personal productivity, organization, and cohesive, coherent and cross-platform mobile media use is enabled by apps like Dropbox, Evernote, Slidescreen, Omnigraffle, Instapaper, Tweetdeck, Nozbe,—and this explains why the number one reason consumers are buying iPads is to enable agile professional productivity.

Mobile Hands Tied

So why then are mWorkers compromised? Because according the survey conducted by Sybase and Zogby International, 70% of these mobile workers have access to less than 10% of their “work data.” By and large, the majority of mobile enterprise network security measures prevent nomadic workers from checking their corporate email, opening company data, using professional apps, or accessing their office desktop remotely via their personal cell- or smartphones.

When employees placeshift, taking their work home, to the cafe, or on the commute, or if they are part of a mobile work force everyday, what do they most need to get the job done? For the longest time, email has been the number one request, which explains (and is explained by) BlackBerry’s dominance as mobile phone of choice for biz. But more recently, social networking is becoming more important to mobile users, and according to Nielsen, “there is a double-digit (28 percent) rise in the prevalence of social networking behavior” on smartphones, but “the dominance of email activity on mobile devices continues.”

Employees Pushing Enterprise IT Envelope

Today, mobile is social. Agile employees want and need real-time information updates. We’re getting more accustomed to the real-time web, and warming up to geolocational social networking too. As such, Boomers, Gen Y and Gen X professionals’ mobile tech needs, desires, and skills levels are shifting. We want our data and we want it now.

The trend is called “the consumerization of enterprise IT” and it has everything to do with the way we live, work, and consumer media for leisure now. Bottom line: personalized and on-demand. Professionals from C-suite executives to employees on the shop floor, in cubicleville, and on the road all expect to have the same level of customization from enterprise IT that they’re accustomed to on personal mobile devices. The impact: “consumer behaviors will have the power to reshape how enterprise IT works,” say analysts at Gartner.

But for now, that is certainly more a forecast than a trend, because for the most part employees may count themselves lucky if they can access professional email on their phones.

It may be a truism, but the effects are significant, as mobile technologies are disrupting now we work, the work we do, and our workplace networks—impacting not just IT, management, and employees, but affecting organizational productivity and business bottom lines.

Some related slides from Toronto’s Mobile Innovation Week ThinkTank Series on Mobile Enterprise.

Thank you to edTech researcher and Professor Pascal Venier @pascalvenier for app suggestions.

Having a robust and relevant, updated and engaging website landing page for your business makes sense in the age of Google. But having a professionally designed yet static website with product information seems underwhelming and quickly dated, when compared to the pace of the social web. Without some tech skill and time to flex it however, it can feel impossible for a small business owner to create a dynamic web presence. For a quick solution, two ideas come to mind:
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1. Widgets
If you have a website and a presence on Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, or Twitter, you can use widgets to add those social media streams to your website. Widgets are self-contained bits of code that can be cut and pasted into your website–no programming language skills required. Most social sites have their own widgets available, just look under “developers” or “goodies” to find them. Another place to look is WidgetBox, which offers free and paid options:

Widgetbox examples:

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2. Blog

A blog can activate your website if regularly updated with articles, photos, promotions, or your newsletter. WordPress is what I use for this site, and it’s free. I also use Tumblr, Blogger, and Posterous—three other blogging platforms that are free, highly customizable, and very user friendly.

Blog theme examples for WordPress by StudioPress:

Blogs can help you promote your business, increase foot traffic, and they are a platform for communicating your expertise and thought leadership.

How often should you post on your blog? According to pro blogger Chris Brogan, having great content matters hugely, but even more important is frequency. “I’ll tell you one thing I know,” writes Brogan, “the more you post, the more traffic you get.” Not sure what to write? Check out “45 blog post ideas that always get buzz.”

Blogs are also a way to socialize your business, grow your network of contacts, and in the process increase the number of potential collaborators or business partners.

Finally, you can use a blog to humanize your business. Lend that static product information on your website a voice, tone, and personality and it will seem instantly more compelling.

Detail from Sparkmail newsletter template ($12) available here.

Detail from newsletter designed by Tangelo. Image courtesy of HMTL Email Design Gallery.

Detail from TheClub newsletter template ($12) available here.

Detail from newsletter designed by Kommunikation & Design. Image courtesy of HMTL Email Design Gallery.

Detail from Huge newsletter courtesy of Matthew Patterson.

On December 1st I will be conducting a workshop on the impact of social media on Human Resources, as part of a 5-day program at Queen’s University’s School of Business.

The program is designed for executives seeking to better understand the critical role that HR must play in successful organizations, this session on using social media tools will focus on recruiting and retaining Generation Y talent.

Using case studies of best practices on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and with mobile devices (smartphones), we’ll cover how organizations are attracting, onboarding, and engaging a new generation of high performance (and highly connected) employees.

For more information on the rest of the program, and to register, see The Queen’s School of Business, Executive Development Centre.

Holiday Homework Ideas

The end of the year is a good time to look back, reflect on your accomplishments, and plan your next steps forward.

If you’re thinking it’s time for a blog or website redesign, or to set up a content strategy to improve SEO, generate new ideas for blog posts, and refresh your memory on what you have already written about, the first step is likely to conduct a content audit.

There are many blogs filled with advice and ideas to design spreadsheets for content auditing, including at B2B Marketing Insider and the ContentMatrix on Kevin P. Nichols blog. Two smart and practical suggestions worth noting from Hilary Marsh at Content Company: “Make an offline copy of the site and get a second monitor – preferably a large one.”

Another useful suggestion when designing your spreadsheet, from Chase Sagum: “Track improvement ideas–on a post by post basis while you create your inventory of content, create a separate row for improvements where you can quickly log what improvements you think need to be made to make that post better.” Sagum also reminds us to track meta-data using Google Analytics “logging the total # of unique page views for the last 30 days on a post by post basis.”

My favorite free template for content auditing comes from The University of Monash, designed by IT Pro Dey Alexander. Here’s a screenshot of his work:

You can download his template (excel) here. I’d also recommend reading Alexander’s steps in conducting a content inventory– a concise and clear overview of the basic steps.

Happy tabulations.

This post originally appeared on Cyberpop!