Today we have a guest post from Elena Bajic, founder and CEO of IvyExec.com, a selective online career network for top performers. Ivy Exec provides access to hand-picked executive jobs and professional development tools to a community of 185,000+ carefully selected professionals.?
Update: Since Elena drafted this post, her power, phone and Internet have been restored. Still, we believe the points of the post are relevant.?
As I write this, I am without power both at home and at my office in NYC, a parting gift from Hurricane Sandy that hit the Eastern Seaboard with great ferocity on Monday, October 29. On the home front, we have been without power for 4 days, and the outlook from local officials is that it will be another 10 to 14 days before power is fully restored. It?s anyone?s best guess when phone or Internet access will be restored. Thankfully, our basics ? shelter, water and food ? are intact, unlike many others who are coping with tremendous personal losses and heartache.
Everywhere I go, I see people hunched over handheld devices. In fact, people are lining up in their cars ? not to get into a Fedex Office or other remote work location ? but to get connectivity for their mobile devices. People are intent on interacting with tiny screens and keyboards as if the devices offer a lifeline back to normalcy. And, in a sense, they do. All emergency communications and community status updates are being sent to wireless devices via emails, texts and calls. At this time of great need, it?s the mobile device that?s come to the rescue. And without one, you are in the dark.
I?ve come to realize that the office is becoming less about geography, space sharing, landlines and other hard-wired connections and more about flexible, mobile applications that enable the types of communication needed to produce work. The mobile device has evolved from a bare-bones accessory for verbal communication to a robust, data-processing, life-simplifying tool that takes the office out of the office. These days, work happens wherever you are ? hurricane or not ? whether you?re at the airport, on the beach or hunkered down at home without power.
Despite the havoc wrought by Mother Nature, determined employees have been able to overcome technological setbacks to connect with co-workers and keep producing. I have stayed in touch with work by cellphone, though cell reception in ?far, far away? suburbia is temperamental at best. I?ve also been able to create a Wi-Fi hotspot at home by tapping my wireless connectivity for short periods until I run out of power.
What?s my takeaway from all this? Hurricane Sandy has highlighted for me ? with great clarity ? the importance of mobile communications and the pervasive role they play in individuals? lives. In fact, I would go so far as to say that those who have chosen to rely on mobile devices, and have built applications for their daily lives around their mobile devices, are faring best in this difficult situation.
From a business perspective, 10 years ago businesses needed to have an Internet strategy to be current, relevant and able to meet customer needs. Today, businesses must have a viable mobile strategy to compete and endure.
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Photo credit: jonathanpercy
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