The wide availability of mobile communications technology has made mobile working part and parcel of the modern business environment.

Mobile and remote working has numerous advantages for both businesses and workers. However, it also brings with it a variety of challenges for employers who have the responsibility of ensuring that productivity and the overall quality of work doesn’t suffer.

To help your business to effectively manage its mobile workforce, Genesis Communications have devised the following handy hints:

• Put systems in place - Firstly, and most crucially, you should ensure that you have the technology in place to allow for effective and efficient mobile working to take place. Genesis Communications have a comprehensive range of mobile worker solutions. These include mobile broadband, BlackBerrys, SharePoint 2007 and Microsoft exchange hosting. To find out more about these, click here.

• Set the guidelines – Setting boundaries and ground rules is essential for remote working to be successful. Policies should be put in place to ensure that everyone knows where they stand. Workers should know exactly what is expected, and what is and isn’t considered appropriate. For example, rules on internet and email usage should be established.

• Trust your staff – Many companies may be have a culture of suspicion towards mobile workers. Some employees may not trust, or even feel resentful towards remote worker colleagues. Self-motivated staff will work just as effectively, if not more-so than those in the office. It is important that all workers accept that this is the case.

• Keep staff task-orientated – Without constant guidance and interaction with colleagues, staff can often stray from the task in hand. It is important that you set constant objectives and have systems in place which allow for collaboration on projects with effective sharing of resources. One of the ways which you can achieve this is by using Microsoft SharePoint 2007.

• Ensure regular face to face contact - Although communications via telephone and email can be effective, in certain situations there is no substitute for face to face meetings. These allow for opinions to be fully expressed and emotions conveyed more effectively than by any other means.

• Conform to duty of care and health and safety guidelines – Under Duty of Care legislation, employers hold the responsibility of ensuring that workers are safe whilst working. This applies whether the employees are based on-site or are working remotely. Genesis mobile PDA tracking and Blackberry tracking devices are one way that employers can conform to this requirement.

• Fully integrate all of your documentation – If your mobile workers use the same forms and documents as your office-based workers, its stands to reason that things will be much simpler. XTrack mobile workflow from Genesis will enable your remote workers to access forms such as invoices, delivery notes, time and attendance sheets and health and safety documentation on their PDA devices.

• Track your workers – Make sure you know where everyone is at all times with xTrack Express which allows you to track the exact location of workers via their BlackBerry.

• Ensure that your vehicle fleet runs efficiently – By using xTrack vehicle tracking systems, businesses can ensure that their fleets are performing as efficiently as possible. Vehicle tracking not only monitors location, but also driving habits so that misuse of vehicles is eliminated. This can also lead to increased cost effectiveness as well as productivity.