Government Technology | Volume 9.5
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MOBILE WORKING
how of using the devices; where instilling user confidence has been the primary objective; and where processes have been re-engineered to optimise the benefits for all stakeholders. These interventions don’t necessarily need to be overly resource intensive, but they do need to be managed, maintained and sustained. If they aren’t it is proving hard to crack the traditional technology adoption curve. Every force has its innovators and early adopters who regularly use, explore and promote the mobile devices from the outset. This enthusiasm needs to spread to the early majority, from where the project gains critical mass and the late majority and laggards adopt the changes. The transition from early adopters to early majority, or “the Chasm” as postulated by Geoffrey Moore, is often the biggest hurdle to cross and is exacerbated by the high expectations of users resulting from their experiences with iPhones and other easyto-use high-tech gadgetry. Highly focused user engagement and support activities at the early stages of a mobile roll-out can have a significant impact on how effectively the chasm is crossed and how quickly critical mass is achieved. And clearly the quicker this is achieved, the quicker benefits are realised and the investment proves worthwhile. There is also a need to be savvier about how to prevent users from reverting to their old ways of working. If users can still fill in paper forms, call in requests over the radio or return to the station to use a desktop, some users certainly will. A reduction in fixed ICT infrastructure, elimination of certain paper
forms and better radio discipline all need to be addressed and the sooner the better. In the current economic climate, with police forces facing significant cutbacks, cashable savings will be essential to mobile data’s future. Jan Berry notes: “While the Home Office has provided the up-front funding for many of the mobile units in use today, concerns have been raised about ongoing and maintenance costs. These will be recurring costs, and forces will need to make adequate provision.” Figures of £1,000/year are not unheard of in relation to the upkeep of desktop computers (yes, that’s per computer). Reducing the desktop infrastructure will also reduce the need for desks and potentially reduce the need to have some of our smaller police stations – these savings could easily cover the costs of mobile systems. CASHABLE SAVINGS Martin Hansen, the director of information at Nottinghamshire Police, emphasises the need to illustrate cashable savings. He believes that the police have to work towards a self-service economy, where officers access information for themselves from hand held devices, rather than calling up over the radio or returning to the station to do so. Martin likens present day policing to the service driven society of the 1960s where petrol pump attendants filled up your car; the attendants being the support staff who undertake many of the back office tasks on behalf of police officers. In transforming policing to a self-service model there is also a need to simplify how benefits are managed; Martin describes the NPIA methodology of
benefits management as “though rigorous, is complex and for the most part difficult to understand” and he seeks to introduce a simpler benefits model whereby forces can easily demonstrate the cashable savings from their mobile implementations. This simplification should make it much easier to justify ongoing expenditure in mobile systems in the short to medium term; where it is definitely needed. So, Holy Grail or poisoned chalice? A bit of both. Some of these mobile projects have shown how pre-implementation excitement can be translated into post roll-out enthusiasm. There is still, however, a wide gulf between effective benefits reporting and effective benefits realisation – and to bridge this gap more focus on instilling confidence and engaging users is badly needed. The user experience is critical and the quicker we get it right, the quicker the inevitable transition to mobile computing will be achieved. And only then will the public get real value for money out of the investment in 21st century police mobile technology.
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY
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