Charting the journey to cloud and mobility

At Datel, we listen to what our customers are saying, both individually and collectively, so that we can provide solutions that continue to meet the real-world needs of UK businesses. Through the Datel Collaboration Network, we run events on different topics throughout the year.

The latest Datel Collaboration Network event polled our customers’ views and experience of adopting cloud and mobile.

Datel R&D Manager Tim Purcell shares his experience of the event and what he has gained from it…

Recently, Datel Executive Chairman Alan Simpson and I met with customers at our offices in Warrington and London. We spent half a day with each group to find out where they are on the journey to using cloud apps and mobile, and what they think it will mean to their business in the future.

It was certainly an interesting conversation. We found that:
 

• Companies are already adopting point cloud solutions for specific areas of their business, such as for HR, CRM and payroll.
  
  

• In some cases, employees, particularly younger ones, are unilaterally deciding to use cloud applications – often before the IT department knows anything about it! This from-the-ground-up push means apps are proliferating, with typical applications being recording expenses, collaboration and file-sharing (e.g. Dropbox or Google Drive).
   

• This presents IT departments with a conundrum: they need to retain control and safeguard corporate systems from the risks these unofficial apps can introduce. At the same time, they don’t want to block efficient ways of working.
   

• Employees expect to be able to access systems and data through different devices - especially, of course, on their smartphone. This is making mobile an imperative.
   

• Again, the rise of the smartphone means that employees want to be able to view key information on a single screen, with simple navigation. A compelling solution – especially for field sales teams – would be being able to integrate financial data from the core ERP hub with contact information, making a unified view of the customer available any time and in any location over a mobile device.

The main purpose of events like these is to invite your views and feedback for the ‘R’ element of Research & Development. Alan and I found the sessions fascinating and it seemed that delegates enjoyed the opportunity to discuss with Datel and with their fellow Datel customers the challenges of moving to this exciting new technology.

We are still keen to speak with more customers on the topic of mobility and cloud. If you would like to share your views, please get in touch with Tim.