*This post originally appeared on the Wavelink blog prior to the rebrand in January 2017, when Wavelink, LANDESK, Shavlik, AppSense, and HEAT Software merged under the new name Ivanti.

Downtime is wasted time. No debate there, right? So, as you’re considering your next generation mobile deployments, one obvious expectation is to be able to ensure you can troubleshoot these new, smart devices, minimizing delays whenever possible. Whether caused by mobile device settings or software, the ability to remote in, check out the issue, and resolve it quickly, is powerful – and imperative to maximizing worker productivity.

Last week, we announced our partnership with Splashtop, and the release of our Smart Device Remote Control. It’s a big deal for us, and very timely for businesses throughout the supply chain. More and more firms are starting hardware refreshes to mobile computers running Smart OSes like Android or planning for Windows 10.

One of the most relatable benefits of remote control – from customer stories using our long-proven Remote Control for Windows CE and Windows Mobile, is the ability to avoid “No Fault Found” service responses. For these companies, Remote Control addressed the scenario of a device having a problem in the field, and being sent to a service depot somewhere, only to be returned without any resolution – because, at the service center, all appeared to be in good working order. “Good working order” is good news, but the pain for these customers was explained in a couple of points:

Workers leaving the point of activity

When the device started acting up, the worker had to leave their task, walk to the closest person on-site who can help them, then walk back to their task location. Productivity losses really begin to mount the moment that worker walks away from their task location, and continue bleeding until they are physically back at their task location and able to resume their task. It may not sound like much, but consider the worker at the far end of a 250,000 square-foot warehouse (or larger in many cases), who has to walk all the way across the floor to swap out their device.

Staging time

Once reaching an on-site contact, that worker is standing idle for whatever time it takes to stage a replacement device from the spares pool - more downtime. Are spares pool devices usually sitting charged, in a docking station, loaded with the latest versions of mission critical apps, ready to go? The answer should be “yes”, but many admit to a less-ready state for spare devices.

Shipping out the “broken” device

Consider the costs of sending a device out for service, unnecessarily. It’s all wasted time, and money. Even if you’re not paying shipping under a service agreement, you’re cost is built into your spares pool of devices. When that device comes back with a note reading “No Fault Found”, you haven’t really gotten any benefit for the downtime you have incurred.

Smart Device Remote Control is a powerful tool for preserving mobile productivity. Used in conjunction with Avalanche for enterprise mobility management, companies not only gain more control by keeping devices and apps up to date. They gain the ability to troubleshoot and resolve issues on the floor, as they happen, so workers can get back to work as quickly as possible.