The Global Address List (GAL) is an electronic address book that contains contact information of everyone in a particular organization. While it is amazing and very useful, this tool does not automatically synchronize with mobile devices. But to exploit its full potential, you have to sync GAL to android phones. The question is, why?
In this article, you will understand the reasons why you need to sync the GAL to your employees' smartphones.
1. Syncing Is Not Automated
There is a misconception that GAL contacts can sync automatically with smartphones. They do not. Microsoft did not include the automatic “sync the GAL” option when they developed the GAL. They left it up to you to complete the task.
With Microsoft Exchange Server and Outlook, you can sync contacts to your employees' phones. And while this is possible, the GAL does not automatically update these contacts.
2. To Save Time And Be More Effective
We are living in a time where we rely on mobile technology for almost everything we need. You cannot afford to miss this opportunity. When you sync GAL with smartphones, your employees can instantly access the contacts they are looking for. Not only will this save time, but will also increase the productivity of your employees.
There is a huge difference in searching for a person by their name, department, or their job title and instantly being able to contact them.
3. To Save Money For Your Business
When you sync the GAL to smartphones, employees will take less time to get contacts to get the contacts they are looking for.
Think about the time each employee would spend looking for a single contact instead of working on something more productive. On average, you will lose about $1 for every minute your employee spends looking for a contact. While this looks like a very little, multiply that by the number of employees in your organization. In the long-term, this is a huge loss which you should avoid by syncing GAL with androids.
4. To Reduce Surprises
Without syncing GAL to android phones, one cannot tell who is calling them unless they have saved the contact on their phones. This means that they can as well ignore an important call from work thinking it is some annoying caller.
It is important to identify who is calling or texting you. That way you can tell what calls or texts to prioritize and what to ignore. That is why you need to sync the GAL with androids to make sure that all the business-related calls are attended to.
5. For Accuracy
While time management is important, calling the right person is equally important. Calling the wrong numbers is both embarrassing and time-consuming. There is a need to be accurate in your contact management to ensure the smooth running of your business.
6. It Is Not A Job You Can Do By Yourself
It is possible to copy and paste contacts from the GAL to every subscriber’s outlook one at a time. But this is tiring, time-consuming, and prone to human errors. In most cases, this will not work and will place a huge burden on the users. A common situation with this method is when you are trying to locate a contact, but you instead find 3 different phone numbers for the same person. How will you know which number is active? You will have an additional task trying to identify which number will work. You can easily avoid this by syncing GAL with smartphones and give your employees an easy time.
7. For Data Hygiene
Data hygiene is a term used in IT to explain the contact data. A well-maintained data hygiene means that the contact data is clean, accurate, and well-governed. Every organization should have a central version of the data where everyone can refer to. For instance, if a phone number is wrong, it should be corrected from the central point and the problem will be fixed for everyone.
8. Syncing Is Not A Job For Employees
It is a total waste of time, energy and brainpower to have your employees manually synchronize contact data. By manually, we mean that the employees have to copy from a spreadsheet and type on their smartphones. This is a task meant for automation but not employees.
9. To Ensure Strategic Management And Distribution Of Enterprise Contacts
Contacts are a valuable resource and must be well-governed. With automated sync, you can ensure that info is shared based on relevance. For instance, an employee’s home address and phone number are not for everyone to know. With GAL sync to smartphones, you can ensure that this info can only be shared with the right people.
GAL Smartphone Syncing Conclusion
The GAL plays an important role in the success of many businesses. You can enjoy an even bigger success if you synchronize it with your employees' smartphones.
