Phase 4: The Technology Environment

Connecting Everything

• Can employees (and contractors) seamlessly move around the office and remain connected to a WiFi network?

  • Have you evaluated for wireless black spots?

• Are fibre-based – or appropriate fixed-line – broadband connections available at workstations where greater bandwidth is needed?

• Do you have a policy in place for managing mobile broadband contracts?

• Have you considered and/or implemented sensors throughout the building and workspace to provide a data stream to help with building, space, environmental and workforce management?

Mobilising

• Have you provided employees with the appropriate mobile devices for their role – smartphone, tablets or laptops – to ensure they aren’t tethered to any one spot?

  • Do you have an established bring your own device policy?

  • Have you ensured they have secure access to all necessary applications and information via these mobile devices and/or do you need to invest in new mobile applications?

  • Have you optimised, digitised, automated and then mobilised your processes to ensure no lapses back into manual tasks occur?

  • Do you have universal docking stations at workstations so employees can quickly and easily work from any desk?

  • Do you have a mixture of workstations with single, double and multiple screens for employees to choose from depending on their preference and task?

• Have you considered removing all desk phones and relying solely on mobile phones?

• Have you enabled employees to access both desk- and room-based video conferencing from their mobile devices?

• Can employees seamlessly and automatically connect to any audio visual technology from their mobile devices?

• Can employees print from their mobile devices to any printer or copier?

• Do you have enough charging stations + power points for the increase in mobile devices that occurs in an ABW office?

• Do you have back up mobile devices on hand for when device failure or loss occurs?

• Do you have mobile management and security solutions in place?

The Paper Trail

• Have you undergone an independent assessment of your print, document and archival/paper storage environments to understand how you can become less-paper reliant?

• Have you reduced the amount of paper you need to store on each desk and in archival/storage spaces? o Have you consolidated your printer and copier device fleet to push the user-to-device ratio closer to 1:25?

• Do you have an advanced form of managed print service (MPS) or the equivalent managed internally that continuously improves the print and document environment while offering process optimisation?

• Have you implemented follow me printing to let employees pick up printed documents from any copier or printer?

  • Is this integrated into other systems such as building access and HR systems?

• Do you have a clean desk policy and have you implemented an appropriate change management program to help employees adjust?

  • Have you considered steps for allowing employees to personalise their work environment while maintaining the clean desk approach?

Software and Security

• Have you implemented IP telephony with phone number mobility to allow employees to work from any workstation at any time and still be contactable?

• Do you have a flexible and scalable unified communications solution in place to allow employees and clients to communicate with each other in the channel of their choice?

• Have you evaluated whether your collaboration tools are sufficient for an ABW office where employees have time, place and technology independence (i.e. anywhere, anytime and any device working)?

• Have you implemented collaboration tools for in-person sharing and editing of documents/information?

• Have you mobilised all relevant software so that employees and clients can access the applications and information they need when they need it?

• Do you have a social business strategy in place that incorporates enterprise-grade tools?

  • Have you considered using a social solution as a means to enable information sharing and ideas generation in addition to supporting projects or teams?

• Is your office productivity suite scalable and accessible on any device, anytime, anywhere?

  • Have you considered a cloud-based option for office productivity and evaluated the legal and privacy ramifications of locating data in such services versus the potential benefits?

  • Do you have a workplace (and/or HR) analytics strategy with appropriate solutions implemented?

    • Is this strategy integrated into the organisations overall analytics or business information approach?

  • Have you upgraded your security strategy and tools for an ABW environment where employees have time, place and technology independence?

    style="list-style-type:square">

    • Has this been assessed and tested by an independent 3rd party?

  Beyond your average IT

  • Are you deploying digital displays (or kiosks) throughout the office to share organisation developments and information, or to provide updates on their rights and responsibilities?

    • Have you considered gamifying this kind of information sharing to boost participation?

  • Do you have the appropriate types of space management solutions that let employees book the spaces they need when they need them (e.g. touch panels outside meeting rooms) or adjust environmental settings?

  • Have you implemented or decided on whether you need:

    • Projectors, Smart Boards, Large screen displays, or Touch screen displays (e.g. Microsoft Surface Table) in meeting rooms and other spaces?

    • Sound and recording systems?

    • Entertainment systems (e.g. gaming consoles)?

    • Connected vending machines in eating areas?

    • Payment systems in the building, such as NFC- or mobile-wallet-based payments?

    • Noise cancelling technology for open areas?

    • New building management and environmental systems?

    • New or renovated data centre facilities?

    • Energy management and reporting solutions?

    • Smart Card Passes / NFC Access Control Tools?

    • Video surveillance technology (e.g. CCTV)?

    • Wearable computing devices and associated solutions?

    • Sensor-based systems that monitor and track a given activity within spaces? (e.g. sensors in workspace chairs that indicate how long an employee has been sitting in the one position).

    • Robot or drone technology for given tasks? (e.g. transporting heavy objects)

    • 3D Printing capabilities?

    • Artificial Intelligence (AI) assistants?

  • Do you have a plan for how you will evaluate and integrate existing leading edge tech and future developments that can be adopted either as space, employee or customer related tools?

  • Do you have or need a “show case” area that highlights the organisation’s offerings (e.g. “retail store, branch or meeting room of the future” type spaces)?

  Services

  • Have you considered reimagining the IT Help Desk to make it more proactive and advocacy based?

  • Have you considered implementing a physical help desk where employees can drop in to receive help in person (i.e. like an Apple Store Genius Bar)?

  • Are you existing external ICT providers able to support your long-term ABW strategy?

  Phase 5: Ongoing Optimisation

  • Have you conducted or planned a series of post occupancy surveys to be run at nominated frequencies to investigate employee and client perceptions and opinions on the new ABW offices?

    • Are you prepared to make changes to your ABW strategy based off the findings of these surveys?

  • Have you scheduled or conducted post technology rollout surveys to investigate whether IT investments are paying dividends with end users or if additional changes are required?

  • Have you scheduled or conducted periodic reviews of the ABW strategy and ensured that all relevant stakeholders are able to contribute?

  • Have you built the concept of agility into the strategy to allow for future changes whether this is in headcount, M&A or divestitures, or other ad hoc needs?