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Do you ever wish you could view a specific document when you were out of the office? Or wish that you could find more information about a client while out on the road? The days of working exclusively in the office are coming to an end, and the result is exciting! Enabling professionals to work from anywhere allows to these high-production people to stay “in the know” all day, no matter where their schedule takes them.

Mobile devices (often referred to as “smart phones”) are gaining widespread acceptance in Sioux Falls. It’s not uncommon to see Treo’s, Blackberry devices, and Motorola Q’s in the hands of professionals from a variety of businesses in the area. Most of these devices are used primarily to view contacts, schedules, and email. If you haven’t looked at purchasing one of these devices yet, it’s worth the time to review current product offerings (major advances have been made in the past 3-6 months). The average business professional can now add between a half hour and 1 hour of productivity each 8-hour workday.

What is most exciting about mobile devices is the capabilities they now posses. Mobile devices now allow users to schedule meetings over the air, collaborate on documents, view sales reports, help the busiest professionals remember tasks and appointments, and access a host of other productivity tools.

The most exciting development in mobile technology is the ability to access and manage CRM, or Customer Relationship Management software, from a mobile device. This allows sales professionals who are out of the office most of the day to write notes about prospective clients, add sales opportunities, trigger internal orders and workflow, and log customer service notes. It builds a much more clean, less fault-prone sales process. I anticipate widespread adaptation of this technology in business-to-business oriented sales teams over the next few years.

What does mobile technology mean to you? It will allow you and your workforce to become more productive, no matter where you are. It also helps professionals “fill in the cracks” between meetings, calls, and other disruptions. For many business people in Sioux Falls, time spent outside of the office is surprisingly high. Mobile solutions allow this time to be used efficiently and helps keep communication flowing.

For those of us in technology, our goal is to help you accomplish more in a day’s work, without working more. Or, for those of us who are involved with high-demand careers, this technology helps us burn out less often. Although mobile technology has the danger of creating habits of working all the time (work is no longer only at work), but if used properly these tools can help you work smarter instead of harder.

Mike is the CEO of DataSync, a Sioux Falls based firm that focuses on delivering productivity tools to businesses cost effectively. Mike has worked in technology for over 10 years and is passionate about bringing practical technology to the business world.