Change is hard. It’s so easy to stay put and push changes to a later time. What do you do when time is running out? With looming End-of-Support dates, Android migration is something you know you have to deal with eventually. But, how do you know when it’s the right time for your business?

If you doubt the Android migration is real, take a moment to reflect on market actions during the last quarter. Microsoft announced it will stop investing in the Windows 10 Mobile branch. Though already shipping Android devices for a couple of years, Honeywell announced Android is officially their OS going forward. David Krebs of VDC Research recently quoted “Outside of ‘Big Windows’ solutions, Windows is a dead-end for mobile computers supporting warehouse applications”. Powerful evidence all around.

Tell-Tale Signs

So, beyond the fact that technology may be driving your migration, what other clues might you find? Would you expect customer satisfaction to be a driver? Could labor cost be a factor?  The answers are “Yes” and “Yes”.

Your customers have expectations. Whether your customer is another business expecting on-time deliveries, or a consumer looking for a reason to buy from you and not elsewhere. You need to drive performance, and make a positive connection with customers. Are your deliveries shipping on time, all the time? And if you’re a retailer, your store associates are your link to customers. Are they making strong, positive connections with the consumer? If looking up the answer to a shopper’s question about product availability is taking too long, for example, that’s a warning sign.

Labor cost is always a pressure on profit margin. Sure, you want employees working as fast as possible, but are you empowering them to do that? Watch them. How much time do they spend navigating applications versus actually picking product? If a worker has to key in a sequence of six button presses on a mobile device to get to the next stage of a task workflow, that tells you something. And how about new or seasonal workers? How much time is spent getting them familiar with tasks? If you’re spending a measurable amount of time telling them how your mobile apps work, that’s a red flag.

Migration Plan

As you take a look around your business, you may find other signs (share them with me – I love to hear the stories). Of course, as you start noticing the clues, you’ll want to start building a migration plan. Our Velocity framework has you covered, and here are 10 reasons why it’s the best way to get to Android, while improving your customer satisfaction and raising labor productivity along the way.