The retail franchise also discussed more users for its PrintWorld app.
The company previously discussed other facets of mobile and remote working, looking in June at advantages of remote working, and how it will affect business, then in July looking at productivity. In August, it looked at mobile security, before analysing technology. Now, it has discussed why “performance management is so critical with a mobile workforce”, pointing out that “with increasing frequency, businesses are creating mobility programmes and policies that enable their remote workers to remain productive wherever they may be”. Citing a survey, it pointed out that “two-thirds of IT decision-makers working in the government sector” allow staff to “use their smartphones for work-related tasks”, with 50 percent also able to use tablets.
Government workers “demonstrate a strong push for greater mobility in the modern workplace”, with one-fifth in satellite offices, 25 percent working from home and 75 percent of organisations providing staff with smartphones. Mobility, it adds, is “becoming a greater focus when creating processes and policies to improve performance”, so “one of the most pressing questions is your ability to implement performance management” for remote workers.
With nothing “truly separating workers in Chicago with those in Calcutta beyond time zones”, everyone is “part of an interconnected global business world”, so performance management is a “key part of the chemistry”. Many companies “have begun to eliminate” ratings tools and are opting for “crowdsourcing feedback”, because workers are “dispersed, making outdated management practices ineffective”.
The retailer points out that when workers are “centrally located in a specific office space with access to the same technology”, it’s easier to track performance, but with mobile workers, “an employee who doesn’t perform at their expected level […] may be hampered by the lack of necessary technology – as opposed to a character deficit”.
It concludes that “the very early stages” of remote worker performance are key to long-term success”, and that it’s “critical that businesses lay out the framework for efficiency with an approved list of resources and tools. Meanwhile, in June it launched the PrintWorld app, which was developed alongside Samsung for “the ever-increasing mobile workforce”.
The app allows consumers to access ‘print-on-the-go’ technology from smartphones, Cartridge World believing that the app will “ultimately revolutionise the printing industry”, as it “features the convenience of full printer functionality” as well as scanning for smartphone, tablet and laptop users “away from their office”.
Earlier this year, the retailer discussed certain users of the app, and has now discussed another set of users that it hopes will use it, stating that remote workers “aren’t the only ones”, with students a “growing demographic in need of mobile printing options”. Around 20.5 million students are expected to attend US colleges and universities, so many will be “churning out term papers” and needing to print.
Getting rid of personal printers makes “the school years more financially bearable”, and the “unnecessary purchase” costs a lot more down the line in terms of cartridges and paper, with Cartridge World saying that further education institutions are “taking it upon themselves to alleviate some of the costs and stresses” by providing shared printers.
However, expenses “vary widely” between institutions, and so “there has been an increased interest in creating printing solutions that better cater to students” who “need convenient and efficient access to mobile printing”. Cartridge World concludes that the PrintWorld app will help students “locate retail businesses” that offer the ability to print in-store, and thus “remain productive no matter where they are”.