Tide and Vine's catering service means that the restaurant has been making the shift to accommodating a mobile workforce
Before the Fourth Industrial Revolution, Mike Langley’s company Tide and Vine might have been considered a typical seafood business. Now his company is turning the tide by becoming a mobile work force.
"We're transporting food all the time," says Mr. Langley, whose business comprises a restaurant in Niagara Falls, Ont., and a catering service that includes supplying wineries, gourmet food fairs and other nearby local restaurants. "We have to keep track constantly of where everybody is, where our supplies are. And scheduling is a constant challenge. We couldn't do it without technology."
Mr. Langley's challenges are common to medium-sized businesses of virtually all types in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, notes Carolyn Rollins, director of enterprise and commercial marketing at Dell EMC. It's the era of the mobile work force — with the right technology work can be done from anywhere faster and more efficiently.
"Technology allows collaboration and lets you give an instantaneous response," Ms. Rollins says.
It's a complete transformation from even a few years ago, when e-mail was considered high-tech, she adds. Today, managing e-mails can bog down a company. Faster mobile technology addresses that issue, says Ms. Rollins. "You can work with your supply chain, solve customer problems and really have a much closer relationship with your customers."
The Fourth Industrial Revolution is driven by digital, sensor-based and cloud computing technology. It's moving faster than the first revolution, which was water— and steam-based, as well as the second, based on electricity, and the third, based on mass communication.
To gauge the extent of how the mobile work force has taken hold in North America, Ms. Rollins points to research, commissioned by Dell EMC and Intel that monitored global tech trends in the modern workplace. The Future Workforce Study, released in July 2016, found that in the United States, half of all employees and three out of five millennials believe technology will make face-to-face conversation obsolete in the near future.
"Employees have seen first-hand the ways new technologies can help them do their jobs better, and they are hungry to use the latest advancements to be more productive," says Allison Dew, Dell EMC, senior vice-president, End User Computing Marketing. "While this may seem daunting, it's a business-critical opportunity for companies to be at the forefront of the future workplace and enable the future work force."
Gary Fearnall, country manager for on-line business lender OnDeck Canada, says his firm's research finds medium-sized businesses consider it important to upgrade their technology. The priority would likely be technology that helps employees work remotely and on the go, he adds.
"It's reasonable to assume that this is where the market is moving," Mr. Fearnall predicts. "The issue for small and medium-sized businesses is to determine how to spend smartly on technology, both to keep up with competitors and to motivate workers, particularly millennials who are increasingly dominating the work force. It's something that businesses often need help in figuring out.
"How do you build out a transformative plan and strategy for your business? This is something we work on with clients," Dell EMC's Ms. Rollins says.
"There are a few things you have to consider. One is, how do your employees do their jobs? How do they work at their best? What incents them to work every day? How do you encourage productivity?"
The second consideration for remote work forces of any size is security, Ms. Rollins points out. When people are working farther afield, companies need to protect their products from theft and their services from piracy.
Third, workers need access to devices with the performance capabilities that are going to allow them to be productive. According to Dell EMC's Future Workforce Study, this is extremely important to millennials. Of those surveyed, 44 per cent said their own workplaces aren't smart enough, 42 per cent said they would quit a job with substandard technology, and 82 per cent said workplace technology influences what role they would take.
Devices millennials look for at work include not only up-to-date hardware but also, Ms. Rollins notes, "the right software that will enable them to do their jobs."
Apps need to be able to work on phones, screens and tablets. "What we've found is that most workers have three or four devices they use to be productive," she says.
As is the case in other areas of business development, medium-sized businesses (approximately 50 to 500 employees) can have a harder time keeping up with mobile work force developments than smaller or larger companies. The larger businesses have the resources to spend on upgrading their technology. Smaller enterprises can be more nimble and disruptive, though, Ms. Rollins says.
She also points out that one of the most important pieces of the puzzle in building a nimble mobile work force is attracting the right people. That's why Dell EMC encourages its clients to work closely with their HR departments as they embark on their work force transformation journey, Ms. Rollins says.
For more business insights, visit Dell.ca/MediumBusiness
This content was produced by The Globe and Mail’s Globe Edge Content Studio, in consultation with an advertiser. The Globe’s editorial department was not involved in its creation.