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Adopting Mobile Learning amidst Corporate Phone Policies
Most large companies acknowledge that most employees want to do at least some level of work-related tasks via their mobile phone. However, companies simply cannot afford to provide company phones for every employee. This dynamic brings up important questions and challenges for the enterprise such as:
- What work-related tasks, if any, are acceptable for employees to use their personal phones?
- Is the company obligated to reimburse the employee for personal phone usage, even if the usage is voluntary?
- How secure are personal phones? What happens when company-related sensitive data is accessed and saved on a personal phone?
- Is personal phone usage at work a distraction for employees?
- Are corporate phone policies necessary?
On one hand, the inertia for mobile phone usage, whether company-owned or personal, is hard to stop. Our personal smartphones are just too compelling – they are always nearby. It’s so convenient and easy to use.
As companies grapple with acceptable phone policies, learning and development executives are drooling over the possibilities of leveraging the phone. In many respects, the phone is the ideal channel to support the learning path of any given employee. The potential to have a continual learning conversation via the phone plus have an always-on performance support tool is too compelling of a value proposition to ignore.
So how aggressively can an L&D program manager tap into the employee’s phone to support learning? And does the L&D team have an opportunity to influence the still to be determined policies for personal phones at the corporate compliance level?
Here are some guidelines and tips to draw from and incorporate into your own situation:
- Involuntary work-related tasks on a personal phone must be compensated. This can be done either via a phone stipend or having a way for employees to expense the appropriate cost. Hourly employees must also be compensated for time-spent.
- Voluntary learning opportunities on the personal phone doesn’t have to be compensated although you must have terms and conditions where the employee acknowledges and agrees to this.
- Learning-based user experiences designed for the phone must abide by corporate security policies.
- Make sure that you pilot your mobile-based user experience so that it’s actually usable.
This last point is arguably the most important, even though the first three might seem like the most daunting. 80% of our smartphone use is spent on only three apps and the average number of installed apps is 37 (Mary Meeker’s KPCB 2015 Internet Trends). That means that the majority of apps on our phones go unnoticed and unused. When you design a mobile experience, don’t assume that just because you have a presence on the phone that you’ll get strong usage.
Your instructional designers may experience a bit of a learning curve in striving to optimize for mobile usage, which is why piloting and iterating can be so valuable.
That all said, if you can 1) navigate successfully within corporate phone policies and 2) design an elegant and compelling user experience, the dream of really driving measurable and effective learning will bear fruit.[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”2_5″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding=”” dimension_margin=”undefined” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][fusion_imageframe image_id=”3193″ style_type=”none” stylecolor=”” hover_type=”none” bordersize=”” bordercolor=”” borderradius=”” align=”none” lightbox=”no” gallery_id=”” lightbox_image=”” alt=”” link=”” linktarget=”_self” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=””]https://mobilecoach.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/iphone-410311_1280.jpg[/fusion_imageframe][/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”3_5″ spacing=”” center_content=”no” hover_type=”none” link=”” min_height=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”left top” background_repeat=”no-repeat” border_size=”0″ border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” padding=”” dimension_margin=”undefined” animation_type=”” animation_direction=”left” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_offset=”” last=”no”][fusion_text]
Addendum
Developing a mobile learning strategy depends on your risk profile as an organization. We’ve developed this quick assessment to help determine your organization’s risk profile when it comes to phone policy. Ask yourself the following four questions. Award yourself 1 point for each YES:
If you score a 1 or a 2, your organization is risk tolerant to mobile phone usage. In this case, you should be piloting away liberally with a variety of mobile learning initiatives to try to crack the code of optimal user engagement.If you score a 3 or a 4, your organization is very risk averse to mobile phone usage. Your best bet here is to develop compelling business cases for how mobile learning will deliver specific business results and then share that analysis with the powers at be.
This post was adapted from a presentation Vince Han made at the 2017 FocusOn Learning Conference in San Diego, CA.
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