Mike Smola, Vice President of Strategic Mobility Team at Panasonic, is a leading advocate for helping frontline workers grasp mobile technology. Mike shares with host Gene Signorini his take on the greatest challenge facing the frontline workers and how it’s changed in a post pandemic world. 

Takeaways 

• The biggest challenge facing frontline workers is enabling the frontline worker to be productive in the environment in which they work
• Being outside of the 4-walls of the corporate building creates an obstacle for frontline workers, they can’t access tech support by walking down the hall
• When developing any product it’s critical to understand the use case and where the product is being used - take a walk in the customer's shoes, understand what they are doing so the product can be built to support that
• There is an expectation/requirement from millennials that technology be small, smart and simple
• Deployment of technology increased exponentially during the pandemic which had a drastic effect on the frontline workforce
• With Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G, high data throughput through the cloud gives frontline workers tremendous insight, better functionality to do their job and empowers them to make better decisions at a job site
• “One day is different from the next… There is always a new challenge. There are so many great things you learn listening to the customer,” Mike Smola

Links

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-smola-7a2a279/
• Company Website: https://www.panasonicfa.com/

Ways to Tune In:

• Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/2f4ecd92-6468-4769-b0bf-254e236510b7/FRONTLINE-INNOVATORS 
• Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/frontline-innovators/id1572329402
• Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/29m3wnK8pbFjdSvJ9wjmyS
• Stitcher - https://www.stitcher.com/show/frontline-innovators
• Google Play - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZnJvbnRsaW5laW5ub3ZhdG9ycy5jb20vZmVlZC54bWw
• YouTube - Full video - https://youtu.be/RmWmMdqYd4M