Kettering University

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The mobile professional

By Gary J. Erwin

No more office space. No more traffic congestion on the way to work. Increased productivity and organizational success. Happier, motivated professionals. 

Some describe it as evolutionary. Others might call it revolutionary.

Whatever terms organizations use to characterize the mobile professional in today’s globally integrated enterprise, one thing is clear: mobility offers professionals the flexibility to provide services to customers more swiftly and efficiently than ever before while offering professionals a chance to balance life and work.

The growth of global organizations offering professionals mobile work opportunities is staggering. According to Worldwide Mobile Worker 2001-2007 published by the Interactive Data Corp. (IDC) in 2007, the global workforce population utilizing mobile technologies will increase from 758.6 million in 2006 to more than 1 billion in 2011, which represents almost 30 percent of the worldwide workforce. 

For IBM, one of Kettering’s key cooperative education partners, maintaining and enhancing the mobility of professionals in the field is critical to continued corporate success. The company, which is reshaping how it operates and conducts business in a globally integrated environment through the work of its mobile professionals, is a leader in the mobile professional movement. The firm uses technological platforms that enable the connection of businesses, workflow, transactions, individuals and millions of companies and networked devices, and allows for the free flow of information and simpler integration of technologies and business processes. The goal: utilize technology to be more responsive and innovative in product and service offerings, and create greater efficiencies in conducting business with customers.

For IBM’s central region, several key partners in this ongoing movement are Kettering/GMI grads, explained Deborah Nemesi, vice president IBM Central Region, General Business and a member of Kettering’s Board of Trustees.

“Every professional in sales, who deal with our customers every day, are all mobile,” she said, adding companies, “should consider the use of the mobile model in order to survive in a rapidly changing global business environment.”

Kettering/GMI grads clearly show that the mobile environment can lead to important success for IBM.

Meg Selfe ’94, vice president of GM Infrastructure Integration Management for IBM Global Services, finds that working as a mobile professional is extremely beneficial for her customers. “It allows us to put the right skill set of

the professional in the right position to help our customers quickly and efficiently,” she said. “If the professional with a skill set that a customer requires is logistically many miles away, our global network capabilities allow us to connect very easily. It’s very powerful and when clients see that power applied in the right manner and what it can do to help them facilitate their business and processes, they recognize the tremendous benefit it offers and how it can accelerate their own globalization efforts.”

Karen Bachelder, Business Development executive for IBM Financial Services Sector and a 1981 Mechanical Engineering graduate, said that she also finds herself to be much more productive as a mobile professional instead of one tied down by an established office.

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