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06
magazine
www.binfo.co.uk
agenda
The UK is at the tipping point of a workplace
revolution that could result in drastic change
to offices, cities, the economy and culture,
according to a new study from Mitel.
Work 3.0: The next generation model for
smarter business
argues that technology,
individualised working and a transformation
of the physical workplace are pushing aside
traditional working practices and creating more
dynamic, adaptive and smarter business models.
The study reveals that the majority (81%) of
UK workers now want to break free from a nine
to five culture and adopt new ways of working.
This figure is even higher (87%) for younger
generations who, Mitel argues, are the biggest
drivers of the revolution.
The report states that the interplay of BYOD,
virtualisation and unified communications (UC)
is creating the ‘human cloud’ in which every
document, IT tool and application – even work
phones and voicemail – is hosted in the cloud
and accessible at a moment’s notice on any
device, in any location.
Mitel suggests that freeing workers from the
restrictions of a physical space or device will
have far-reaching consequences: traditional
commuting patterns will disappear as workers
choose how, where and when they work;
businesses will benefit from cost savings,
increased productivity and virtually limitless
access to a global pool of talent; and start-ups
will flourish, as traditional overheads, such as
real estate and staff, become ‘virtual’ and can be
scaled up or down almost instantly.
Mitel CIO Steve Little said: “The last decade
has seen an explosion of game-changing
technologies and our report suggests that once
these truly get a foothold in UK businesses, the
impact will be enormous. Establishing a culture
of dynamism will be of benefit to individual
workers, businesses and markets and could help
to give the UK economy a real competitive edge
on the global stage.”
The Mitel paper can be downloaded at
http://bit.ly/MitelSmartWorking.
One in four wireless
networks unsecure
Sophos is advising businesses to improve wireless
hotspot security after a two-day ‘warbiking’
experiment by Sophos director of technology
strategy James Lyne revealed that 27% of
107,000 wireless hotspots identified in central
London had poor or no security (8% had no
encryption at all and 19% used obsoleteWEP
encryption). For the experiment, Lyne used a
bike equipped with dynamos and solar panels
to power a computer that scanned for wireless
networks. He also employed a GPS-enabled
device to help create a ‘heat’ map of wireless
network security levels. The worst offending areas
were streets with collections of small businesses.
For tips on how to secure a wireless network
visit
www.sophos.com/warbiking.
Use social media or lose
customers, warns Gartner
Refusing to communicate by social
media will be as harmful to companies
as ignoring phone calls or email today,
Gartner warns. By 2014, organisations
that fail to communicate with customers
by social media will face the same level of
wrath as those that fail to meet today’s
expectation that emails and phone calls will
be answered.
For organisations that use social media to
promote their products, responding to inquiries
via social media channels will be the minimum
level of response expected.
Carol Rozwell, vice president at Gartner,
said: “Dissatisfaction stemming from failure
to respond via social channels can produce up
to a 15% increase in churn rate for existing
customers. It’s crucial that organisations
implement approaches to handling social
media now. The effort involved in addressing
social media commentary is not good cause to
ignore relevant comments or solvable issues.”
Gartner advises businesses to develop a
process for deciding whether to respond to
public or client-prompted social engagements;
who should respond if a reply is warranted;
and what action is necessary following any
response. “Generally the best practice is to
acknowledge the issue on social media, but to
move attempts to resolve the issue offline,”
said Ms. Rozwell.
She advises businesses to create rules to
define who should deal with different kinds
of comment and a process for deciding how a
response will be posted to social media. Some
comments about a general issue may simply
require monitoring and assessment before a
general response is issued, whereas others may
require an immediate and personal response
and further monitoring.
Gartner adds that it is important to
keep records of individual conversations and
constantly analyse interactions to see what
insights can be gleaned from them. Currently
half of organisations monitor social media, but
only 23% collect and analyse data.
Ms Rozwell said: “We urge organisations
to do three things. Firstly, participate – it’s
important that organisations don’t let a fear
of someone saying something bad about
them stop them from participating in social
media. Secondly, don’t assume all comments
require the same level of attention: develop an
appropriate response for the different types
of interaction your business faces. Thirdly,
plan for an increase in social commentary
and adapt communications practices to cope:
this will require changes to job descriptions,
performance metrics and business processes.”
www.gartner.com
Workers will be able to choose how, where and
when they work. (photo courtesy of OfficePOD)
Rise of human cloud drives workplace revolution
BYOD guide
BT Business has produced a best practice guide to the use of employee-owned devices in the
workplace, following a survey of SMEs showing that whilst two-thirds (68%) of employers claim
to have IT policies in place for BYOD, only 39% of employees are aware of them.
www.insight.bt.com/en/features/byod_policy_guide