POSTED BY DAN YOUNG

Being the principal partner of a mobile technology firm, I live a mobile life. I travel often to attend conferences on the technologies and philosophies that drive this industry. As I write this article, I’m sitting in the Betahaus in Berlin while the rest of my team is building software back in the United States.

Even though I’m over 9,000 km away, the entire DXY team is completely connected. Throughout my trip to a mobile tech conference in Berlin, my team has been working closely on multiple projects. The reason we can is that we have embraced our own technology; we have a mobile business.

A mobile business means leaving the traditional “nine-to-five” office behind. When communication technology consisted of a fax and long-distance service on a landline, being in the same room with your coworkers made sense; it was the only way to share personal interactions. Modern communications technologies foster these personal interactions in such a way that people can work remotely without the need to occupy the same space everyday.

Offices are distracting. How often has an uninvited conversation ruined your concentration? When has a needlessly long team meeting disrupted your schedule? By breaking free of that environment, people have better focus and typically get more done in a shorter amount of time.

Tools like Google Apps, Skype, Basecamp, GoToMeeting and even Twitter and Facebook help to make people extremely accessible. Factor in smart phones and tablets and your team can be connected all of the time, regardless of where they may be.

Once a company go mobile, resources are saved. Less time is wasted on commutes. Fewer trips to the office saves gas. Stress levels are reduced; people are able to better focus on what they’re doing and not the emotional overhead of doing it. The health and wellness of the team improves. Inefficiencies in the team become more transparent. There is less need for large brick-and-mortar facilities, thus reducing facility and utility costs. Overall, a mobile business is a more efficient operation.

Large companies like IBM discovered these results years ago. They have had a distributed workforce for a number of years and the results have been outstanding. They are not alone. Companies like Motorola, Continental Airlines and SC Johnson have all had strong success with remote workforces.

Obviously not all businesses can be mobile. Nonetheless there are aspects of a mobile business model that can be applied to many different types of business to improve efficiencies, customer service and the overall moral of a team. Take a look at how your business operates. You might be surprised at how profound an impact going mobile can have on your bottom line.