Why you need a mobile strategy
May 13, 2013 at 9:20 am | Posted in digital workplace, governance, intranet, research, strategy | 5 CommentsTags: digital workplace, intranet, mobile, research, strategy
In my last post ‘Letting the mobile genie out of the bottle‘ I said mobile is one of the key drivers for the transformation of intranets into digital workplaces which could become mobile workplaces but progress is patchy. I asked how do you manage this so it benefits your organisation and people while managing the risks of bring your own device (BYOD), intellect property, consuming and contributing content, and using apps that are available anywhere, anytime?
It is no surprise if I say a mobile strategy to set you in the right direction is a good start to make. Setting the right direction for your organisation with mobile is critical. To do that you need to know why is your organisation considering mobile access to your intranet. You need to develop a strategy aligned to your overall business strategy and other strategies that may conflict, support, or overlap with your mobile strategy e.g. IT, Communications, Security.
Your mobile strategy will need to show how it will help to improve the performance. You need to first research how productivity can increase with people more mobile. You need to find out which content and apps are most needed while people are mobile. Ask people what tasks need doing most or have the biggest impact if done with a mobile device.
Without a mobile strategy, with clear priorities shown, there is little chance of creating a successful business case that can help people and your organisation. But who should be responsible for sponsoring the implementation of your mobile strategy?
You need to find a senior manager who will champion this or, better still, a group of senior managers from across your organisation. Consider who will have the biggest influence on your mobile strategy. Check out who will be most affected by your strategy. Lastly, who has the biggest interest in a mobile strategy being adopted.
Involve these people and any people they nominate in developing your strategy and working out the best way to get your organisation to adopt.
When you have achieved this you will need governance so your mobile strategy sets out and continues in the right direction. More on this in a future post.
Letting the mobile genie out of the bottle
May 7, 2013 at 7:46 am | Posted in digital workplace, governance, intranet, mobile, strategy | 3 CommentsTags: digital workplace, governance, intranet, mobile, strategy
Mobile is now one of the key drivers for the transformation of intranets into digital workplaces which could become mobile workplaces. Progress is rapid but patchy. Why is that?
I believe many organisations want to move towards greater mobile access to content, collaborative tools, and apps, but it is fear of the unknown which prevents them doing this. Part of that fear is about letting the genie out of the bottle.
While there are some surprising examples of organisations like Yahoo! and Google reacting negatively (in my view) to this trend, many are starting to test the waters by putting a (mobile) toe in and finding it a warm and pleasant experience. They are not getting out of their depth either by planning what to try out first, how it fits with the wider picture, and understanding the benefits.
How do you manage this so it benefits your organisation and people while managing the risks of bring your own device (BYOD), intellect property, consuming and contributing content, and using apps that are available anywhere, anytime?
It is no surprise if I say a mobile strategy and governance helps to achieve this. Setting the right direction for your organisation with mobile which is supported by the right framework is vital.
Over the next few posts I will shed some light on how to manage mobile devices once people can use access their online environment. What will help you most? Let me know please…….
Big property savings examples in digital workplace
March 25, 2013 at 8:17 am | Posted in benefit, best practice, digital workplace, mobile, research, strategy, value | 3 CommentsTags: benefit, best practice, digital workplace, research, value
This is the fourth in my series of posts showing examples of the savings organisations have made by shifting work to a digital workplace. It draws on my previous posts on how you need to plan your strategy, governance, and management of content, tools, and services for a digital workplace. This is essential to transform your intranet into a digital workplace. The previous posts covered productivity savings, reduced absenteeism, and lower staff turnover.
I will be using examples from the Digital Workplace Group‘s report ‘What is the financial value of investing in digital working?‘ that show what organisations taking the right approach can achieve. This example covers how less, better utilised, physical workspace can save large amounts of money and impact on your organisation’s financial bottom line.
How to make the savings
- Transform the physical workplace into a digital workplace where employees can take advantage of its benefits.
- Dedicated versus flexible workspace – do you need the same workspace every working day?
- Reduce the number of buildings you need if more people are working at home or away from their dedicated workspace more often.
- Increase occupancy rates by matching the workspace to the people who actually use it rather than have empty desks while people are working elsewhere.
- Lower your costs by accurately forecasting your physical workspace needs based on trends in digital working.
What can be achieved
- Traditional offices are expensive, inefficient, inflexible, and difficult to scale (particularly down).
- About 60% of a company’s desks are vacant at any time.
- The average business could save $2,500 to $5,000 a year in property and related costs for each half time teleworker.
- Savings from real estate reduction through new ways of working programmes are making the headlines globally: Cisco ($1.1bn), BT (£60m), Deloitte ($30m),
IBM ($450m), US Patent & Trademark Office ($19.8m), GlaxoSmithKline ($50m) and more. - Investment in the digital workplace is a prerequisite for enabling employees to work effectively while reducing office space.
Examples
- BT’s Agile Worker programme saves approximately £6,000 a year for every full-time homeworker at BT. In 2009, with 10,168 homeworker par ticipants, BT saved approximately £60m, largely based on reduced estate costs.
- On any given day, more than 115,000 IBM employees around the world work in a non-IBM office. 40% of the IBM workforce operates without a dedicated office space. The employee/desk ratio is currently 4:1, with plans to increase the ratio to 8:1 in field locations. IBM calculates that it saves $450m a year in reduced facility infrastructure and associated initiatives through agile working.
- By transforming its sales team from office based to mobile, YELL reduced its property costs by £1.5m ($2.5m) a year and drove efficiency through reduced downtime.
- Through its Global Workplace Initiative, HP has increased its office space utilisation from an average of less than 40% to nearly 80% in just three years. The ratio of employees to desks ranges from 2:1 to 20:1 and varies by job, location, and other factors.
There are more examples and details in ‘What is the financial value of investing in digital working. My next post will cover the environmental benefits.
DW Trends 2013: ideal for DW and intranet practitioners
March 11, 2013 at 9:19 am | Posted in benchmark, benefit, best practice, digital workplace, governance, mobile, research, strategy | 1 CommentTags: benchmark, benefit, best practice, digital workplace, governance, research, strategy
I have recently been enjoying reading through Jane McConnell‘s latest Digital Workplace Trends Report for 2013. It is a feast of appetising information on the latest trends in the digital workplace. It gives great hints and tips. It is also very topical in view of the news about Yahoo! homeworkers and the known benefits of the DW that I have posted about recently.
The Digital Workplace Trends Report 2013 is very helpful for anyone who is involved with the digital workplace, whether you are starting to think about it, already planning how to transform your intranet, or wanting to check if what you have implemented is along the right track.
The real beauty in this great treasure trove of DW information for intranet practitioners will be:
- Trends – seeing how areas have stalled, accelerated, and the reasons why
- Layout – key findings shown as bullet points, graphs and bar charts to easily see key data
- Case study examples – a great addition and fascinating to read about real examples
- Dip in and out – choose to read one section, many, all sections. Whatever you decide this report will suit your needs.
If this was a printed instead of a digital document it would already be well-thumbed through with the corners bent by the times I have been reading sections again and again to learn more each time.
Don’t miss out on this unique research about the digital workplace.
Congres 2013, SharePoint and Digital Workplace – all together!
February 18, 2013 at 9:38 am | Posted in digital workplace, governance, intranet, SharePoint 2010, strategy | 1 CommentTags: digital workplace, governance, sharepoint 2010, standards, strategy
I am really looking forward to my first time at the Congres intranet conference, Congres 2013 (Twitter #intra13), on 18 and 19 March in Utrecht, Holland. Many people have told me about the great time they have networking with other intranet people and learning from the workshops and presentations given by great speakers.
I am very pleased to be asked to run two workshops on SharePoint and the Digital Workplace on the first day and a breakout session on the second day. For those of you who have not heard about this (where have you been ?!) this is the fifth annual Intranet conference designed for senior managers, communication people, information and IT professionals engaged in intranets, enterprise social media and corporate employee portals.
Speakers this year include Luis Suarez – The Evolving Knowledge Web Worker, Euan Semple, Eaun Semple – The Future Proof Intranet, business as usual?, Jonathan Phillips – The Coca-Cola Intranet: from research to delivery and Steven van Belleghem – Internal Communication is dead.
Congres 2013 (#intra13) offers you the opportunity to learn about current innovative intranet solutions, new developments and best practices. In addition to acquiring all that knowledge, the networking as a big factor at the conference.
And if you want to find out more about how to plan and implement strategies for the Digital Workplace and SharePoint and how to manage them, join my workshops and say “hello’ in person as well as on Twitter, etc. I will be very pleased to welcome you!
My 2013 ‘fabulous five’ predictions
December 17, 2012 at 9:23 am | Posted in career, collaboration, communication, digital workplace, engagement, governance, intranet, SharePoint 2010, social media, standards, strategy, value | 3 CommentsTags: career path, collaboration, communication, digital workplace, engagement, governance, intranet, sharepoint 2010, social media, standards, strategy, value
Several people have asked me what my predictions are for 2013 for intranets and digital workplaces. I couldn’t resist the temptation to give my view from more of a practitioner’s perspective than maybe others have done. So as that legend in his own lunchtime, Tony Blackburn on Pick of the Pops (c’mon you’re not that young to not know him in the UK at least! 
) says “Ok pop pickers, here is the fabulous five!”.
1. Not just a flexi fortnight
In 2012 we had the fantastic experience of the London Olympics and Paralympics. Many blue chip and dyed in the wool organisations with office workers in London had a big shock and had to wrench their employment practices quickly into the 21st century by letting people work away from the office at home or other more local places. People were trusted to work as normal for each of these games events. Amazingly it all went smoothly with many organisations realising here was a quick way of helping to save costs with pressure on their business performance.
I predict many ‘flexi fortnight’ organisations will invest heavily in making the digital workplace permanent in 2013 and help change many people’s work/life balance for the better as well as improve overall business performance. They will need help though!
2. SharePoint will be ‘good enough’
SharePoint 2010 and increasingly 2013 will continue to be the major technology deployed by large organisations transforming their intranets into digital workplaces. Why? Well, there are not many alternatives to choose from now or likely during 2013. Organisations may not choose it for the right reasons ‘herding sheep’ is sometime the image that comes to my mind. Where the real challenge will be is the perennial areas of strategy and governance.
I predict many organisations will need help unpicking poor decisions taken without the full knowledge of what SharePoint is capable of. We know that it can be capable of many good things if in the right hands – then again the opposite happens too.
3. ‘Social media’ a threat to internal comms?
And the problem is partly the term ‘social media’ which is misleading in my humble opinion. I always use terms which are more practical and relevant when talking with clients. The same should apply for intranet/digital workplace practitioners when talking to their internal partners and customers. So we’re helping people to find other people with similar interests to help solve a problem quicker, easier and maybe cheaper rather than ‘knowledge management’ and improving communications by people showing how much they value it by sharing, liking, rating, and commenting on it rather introducing ‘Facebook’ or ‘social media’.
I predict internal communications will ‘get it’ and see this as a big opportunity to gain better employee engagement. Use the right terms and examples to get a better understanding of what it’s all about.
4. Security and compliance taken more seriously
We have seen several high-profile examples of organisations with previously strong reputations and brands suffer severe setbacks because of insecure processes and training and not complying with regulations and legal requirements. It really is time that organisations looked at ALL the legal and regulation requirements as a joined up picture for what is needed in a digital workplace. There has always been a risk that sensitive information can be mislaid since the written word many centuries ago so it’s not a new problem.
I predict organisations will ensure their digital workplace governance and processes are robust using software and education to make sure the right behaviour is encouraged to minimise risks of sensitive and commercial information being found by the ‘wrong’ people.
5. Intranet practitioners become INTRANET or DIGITAL WORKPLACE PRACTITIONERS
Yes, it’s my shorthand method of saying the profile for practitioners will grow in 2013. I do believe as intranets transform into digital workplaces, organisations are realising the value they give them. I also believe your profile will increase as you engage with more senior managers over wider areas that are relevant to a digital workplace than just to intranets. I sincerely hope the value you provide in your role will be recognised and rewarded.
I predict 2013 is the year when many intranet practitioners will find by the end of it their career on a much stronger path with many people showing more interested in wanting to be part of this journey and more willing to help you.
Whatever happens in 2013 I hope you achieve your ambitions!
How to create a Digital Workplace strategy
December 4, 2012 at 11:57 am | Posted in digital workplace, intranet, strategy, value | 8 CommentsTags: digital workplace, strategy, value
Recently I talked at Intranett 2012 about how your organisation can transform its intranet into digital workplace to save costs and reduce unproductive time and workspace. I define the digital workplace as “Work is what you do, not a place you go to”.
The intranet is a key ingredient in an evolving world of work and technology called the digital workplace. If you are working from a cafe on a smartphone, accessing IM, sales data or online expenses forms, you are in the digital workplace. I want to cover in my next few posts how you can help make this happen starting with how you create a strategy for your digital workplace.
Vital to align your digital workplace strategy
Your digital workplace strategy must align with your organisation’s strategy. There is no point moving in one direction if your organisation is planning to go in a different direction. You need to be clear what your organisation’s strategy is and make sure your strategy shows how it will help to achieve it.
Digital workplace strategy is wider than intranet
A digital workplace strategy will usually be wider than your intranet strategy. It’s more than the traditional role for information published online. It will also cover the online user experience where you will be working e.g. while mobile, at home, in cafes; how you will be working e.g. using laptops, smartphones, and maybe personal and/or public PCs; what you need to do your work e.g. completing tasks, sharing knowledge.
Plan for the short, medium, and long-term
Your plans need to cover the short-term (0 – 3 months), medium term (3 – 12 months), and long-term (over 1 year). You need to prioritise your action plan to give the biggest benefit to your organisation based on best positive impact on people; most savings for your organisation; quickest to implement; and cheapest to do.
Who will have the biggest influence
You need to identify the senior managers, your stakeholders, who will have the biggest influence on your strategy. You need to build and maintain good relationships with them for your strategy to a) be implemented and b) have the best chance of succeeding. Typically they will represent Finance, CIO, HR and most importantly, your business units.
Identify who will be affected the most
You need to identify who will be most affected by your strategy. You also need to maintain good relationships with them for your strategy to a) be implemented and b) have the greatest chance of succeeding and make sure they are clear what to expect and understand how they will be affected. Typically they will be from your business units most influenced by the digital workplace.
Please contact me if you need my help or leave a comment on this post. In my next post I will cover the governance needed in a digital workplace.
Tips to help you achieve a Digital Workplace
November 27, 2012 at 9:39 am | Posted in benefit, digital workplace, intranet, strategy, value | 3 CommentsTags: benefit, digital workplace, money, plan, strategy, value
When you are proposing a Digital Workplace to your organisation you need to decide how to present this to your senior managers as well as what the benefits will be. Here are a few tips I have found have helped me and my clients to succeed:
1. Don’t use any technical terms
Find out who you will be presenting, meeting, or discussing your proposal with. Use the language that your audience understands best. Don’t use technology terms or abbreviations.
2. Really understand what your organisation needs
What is the overall strategy for your organisation? What are the key priorities? How can a digital workplace support them?
3. Find a quick win
Try to identify something within your control, needs little time or money to achieve, but will make your senior managers look up and take notice because of the difference it will make when achieved.
4. Find something which will have a big impact
Maybe a difficult and inefficient process? Maybe an activity that can make a big saving in money? Maybe something which affects everyone? It has to make a difference that will get everyone’s attention.
5. Show slides with before and after scenarios
You need to make sure you explain clearly with examples of what is happening now and how it will change afterwards. Your examples need to show money saved, time saved, extra revenue, better productivity, etc. They can be shown words or graphic but they must be clear and easily understood.
6. Be honest about timescales
Senior managers quickly get turned off from a project if the reality is different to the expectation you have set. Make sure you can justify what you are showing.
Who should not own the Digital Workplace?
November 19, 2012 at 9:45 am | Posted in communication, digital workplace, governance, plan, strategy | 1 CommentTags: communication, digital workplace, governance, intranet, plan, strategy
In my last post I asked ‘Who should own the Digital Workplace?’. From my experience one function that I feel should not own the digital workplace is Internal Communications.
Communicators’ first priority is to communicate. Their first reaction to collaboration between employees using blogs is to increase the frequency of communications and their prominence on the intranet.
But digital workplaces are used by employees primarily to do things or find information or people, not to read communications. They still do read communications but it is not their main purpose or first priority.
This is a dilemma that communications will need to resolve as they find a new role that continues to add value to the organisation that is more strategic. It is NOT a good approach to seek to own the digital workplace from the view of communications being its main purpose. It isn’t.
While communications still has a key role, increasingly it is human resources, knowledge management and business functions that are largely affected by or have a high influence on how the digital workplace is created that are increasingly involved.
A group of senior representatives who are stakeholders in the digital workplace should form something like a digital board, responsible for strategy, high-level decisions, and priorities for collaboration, communications, tools, and mobile use.
This group should have cross-organisational recognition and support that needs to be seen to be acting in their interests. A clear strategy and prioritised action plan for the short term with owners and timescales will achieve that.
But there still needs to be a leader of the digital board whose authority is accepted. The obvious choice would be the CEO of the organisation. However the reality is the CEO probably won’t have enough time to focus on leading the digital board.
The next best solution is for the CEO to nominate someone or, if not possible, for there to be a senior person who is naturally seen as the ideal candidate by other digital board representatives. The main criteria are someone whose finger is on the pulse of the organisation, is involved and aware of the key decisions being taken, and has the respect of everyone involved.
It is essential to have the right people in place who own the digital workplace strategy and future direction it will take that will benefit both the organisation and everyone working in it.
Am I unfair in my views on internal communications?
Who do you believe are the best people and functions to own the digital workplace?
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