Digital Strategy, Design and Development
Digital Strategy, Design and Development
Times are changing for business. Consumer confidence is shaken and forecasts are down. Prices such as oil seem to be spiralling out of control. Is there anyway new web and mobile technologies can help business beat the crunch?
Absolutely. Mobile and web technology has been rapidly improving in recent years. Emails have virtually replaced post for standard correspondence and can be received on almost any modern phone (not just smartphones like the Blackberry). Networking technologies are cheap and widely available allowing staff to collaborate all over the world, with a few mouse clicks or text messages.
Importantly this new technology is not only available to large corporations but to all from the small sole trader to the multinational and they are affordable and add value and efficiency to a business.
Lets take an example of how technology can help beat the credit crunch, the daily commute.
Many workers drive and even those that rely on public transport are being hit by higher fares as fuel prices soar. The commute is only carried out to get to work and costs a significant amount, for most workers, of a monthly salary. Reduce the need to commute and the cost of coming to work is reduced, meaning the real value of the take home pay packet is increased.
If a worker is able to use new web and mobile technologies to work from home a few days a week then she gets more money out her salary. Fewer cars are clogging the road and of course CO2 emissions are reduced.
Sounds too good to be true?
Well there can be some issues with health and safety law in certain circumstances and tax as well but if properly discussed and thought through these can and are dealt with as many companies show already putting these ideas in practice. In the UK, for example, flexible (and this might include remote working) working can be a legal right under certain circumstances, so organisations already need to think about this.
It does require a cultural shift. Some corporations are culturally centred around the concept of being ‘in the office’. The idea is a direct descendant of the industrial revolution. During this time (getting on for two centuaries ago) workers stopped being home based and moved to the city to work. The technology of the time was leading to increased efficiency of production but required centralisation. Today’s information revolution does not but the culture adopted in the 17th Centuary still lingers.
Those companies that are prepared to use these new web and mobile technologies to change their practices, will also get other benefits. For example, if employees work from home then offices can be rethought to facilitate group working when teams are in. So the office becomes truly task focused. Gone are cubicles, that work can be done at home. Also, gone might be the need for so much expensive floor space. Less employees in at any one time may mean the need for less real estate. Capital can be released, which in a credit crunch (and lots of other times) has got to be good news.
These are just a smattering of ideas to wet the appetite love to hear from anyone with more examples, or who is making this work in reality.
