Best Practices for Making the Office IoT-ready
Driven by the need to make highly informed decisions and become more productive, companies across the globe are incorporating Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart technologies into the office to provide access to real-time data, creating what’s been dubbed the connected workplace.
Some businesses may be reluctant to jump feet-first into a workplace of connected devices – either because of cost or because it’s not the way things have traditionally been done – but employers shouldn’t be afraid of the workplace of the future, because they stand to benefit.
The Benefits of a Connected Workplace
There are a few reasons businesses should invest in connected technologies, the main one being employee productivity. Two of the key tenets of a connected workplace, according to Forrester, are that employees will have access to more services and data to do their jobs better, and technology will augment their ability to do their jobs.
Connecting people to devices and apps will give them the data and information to make better decisions, and technology will help automate some monotonous tasks, letting employees focus on more creative, complex challenges to deliver work that is more valuable to the business. This extra productivity and streamlined decision-making can create cost savings for a business; every minute has a price tag on it, and time saved is money earned in many cases.
Additionally, employees – especially younger generations now entering the workplace or moving into middle management roles – are beginning to demand these types of tools. Businesses need to come to terms with the idea that if they do not create the technology-focused company that many employees now expect, no matter what the industry, it may be difficult to attract and retain talented staff. Think of when PCs became mainstream in offices: By the early ‘90s, if a business was still providing its staff with typewriters and calculators instead of computers, it was considered antiquated.
Finally, companies need to remember this is a new era and it’s simply not possible to do things the old way and remain competitive. Everything is constantly changing, and the businesses that can roll with the punches and integrate timesaving, productivity-increasing applications and tools that make a smarter workplace are the ones that will stay ahead of the curve.
Getting Ready to Plug In: Best Practices
Enterprise companies and mom-and-pop offices alike have some motivating factors to make their workplaces more connected. But how do you get there?
A preliminary step is to change your default mentality: Don’t settle for the status quo, and don’t assume it will be painful to change. Begin putting programs in place that enable connected technologies and mobile devices to flourish – and finding tools that people can get excited about is the first step to easing into the transition.
Next, look around your industry. Who are the benchmark leaders in the industry, and what kinds of technologies are they using – both generic and industry specific? It’s OK to be a copycat – it’s how you’ll stay competitive. As your company becomes more comfortable with being connected, eventually you can strive to be the trendsetter.
The next point to consider is how to maintain security in an environment of multiple connected devices. This requires management of mobile devices, typically done using an enterprise mobility management (EMM) solution. VMware AirWatch, MobileIron, and BlackBerry/Good are all top providers of EMMs, each with their own specialties – for example, BlackBerry is focused on certain verticals, AirWatch has perhaps the largest breadth of installation, MobileIron is driving innovation around access and control, and so on.
All of the security protocols may be invisible to individual employees outside the IT department, but it’s critical to have a system in place to manage and detect threats and protect data. These tools are becoming more standardized and mainstream as companies like Google, Microsoft and Samsung make inroads in this space.
The need for security cannot be emphasized enough. Even major companies have experienced issues that have impacted access to data and customer service; compromised information; and affected operations and productivity for days, weeks or even months. It becomes the business leader’s responsibility to ensure a connected workplace is also a secure workplace. The coming years will usher in a tenfold improvement in security, and will require that companies partner with the leaders in each area to ensure all devices and connections are secure.
Finally, determine where you can get the biggest bang for your buck by bringing in smart technology to streamline a process or change the way people work. For example, some companies have found ways to add value to learning or training sessions by coupling mobile devices and tools with paper classroom materials. This creates a multi-platform session in which both physical and technical touchpoints foster improved learning and collaboration.
Paper: Here to Stay
As in the example of the learning session, paper is not going away; it is and will remain a part of any office workflow. Even as employees transition to working on tablets or mobile phones from a desktop or laptop, they still need to print; in fact, sometimes people print more, to give their eyes a break or to improve collaboration. As much as electronic devices and paperless workflows improve automation and reduce the need for paper, there are still reasons that documents need to be physical.
But according to an InfoTrends study, 95 percent of consumers and 67 percent of business users want the ability to print from their mobile devices. But unfortunately, many workplaces aren’t meeting their employees’ desires – research shows that only 56 percent of users are satisfied with current mobile print options.
A printer must be part of the mobile, smart ecosystem, connected and app-enabled just as other parts of the office are. A printer often functions as an on- and off-ramp to other tasks and functionalities, and thus there must be a seamless interaction between mobile devices and printers in the workplace to keep employees productive. Printers today are at the core of many business processes, with access to large amounts of data. It is therefore imperative that your printer also be part of the security model for the office, and integrate well with the app ecosystem that has become a cornerstone of productivity improvement.
The ability to print from mobile devices makes the connected workplace more productive; all an employee needs to do to print is hit a few buttons from whatever device he or she is working on, from wherever he or she is, and the paper comes out of the connected office printer instantly.
Clients or vendors visiting an office for meetings or sales calls also need the capability to print from their tablet or mobile phone; some connected printers allow machine-to-machine authentication so that an outsider can print from their device without having to get on the company’s network or requiring access to passwords, to keep data secure.
The New Workplace
Today’s workplace is vastly different from those seen in television shows like “Mad Men,” set in the 1960s, and even more recent depictions, like the 1999 film “Office Space.” Modern office spaces contain a multitude of screens and technologies at every individual’s workspace and throughout the office; even the way we work is changing as we move toward comprehensive virtualization.
As the office landscape becomes more connected, there will be opportunities as well as challenges for businesses across the globe – but with the right approach to a connected future, companies everywhere can reap the benefits of real-time data capture and analytics, higher productivity, happier employees, smarter decision-making and lower operating costs.
