Mobility will widen the working model

UK Online for Business is a partnership between industry and government that aims to help business make the most of technology investment. Computing spoke to its director, Liz Grant, about mobility, value and return on investment.

What is the UK Online for Business view of how to measure the benefits of return on investment (ROI), above and beyond the purely financial?
ROI has to be about taking the longer-term view. It's a simple question: if we introduce a mobile working environment, how much more will we get from staff and how will we reduce costs accordingly?

There are two areas within that: the amount of extra work staff can fit into their working hours; and the less tangible issue of morale. A lower attrition rate will keep recruitment costs down.

The metrics look obvious, but companies shouldn't underestimate the intangible value of a mobile workforce.

Looking at employee satisfaction will help you understand attrition rates and the specific associated costs.

It's also about the overall culture of your business. Companies that engender a positive culture for employees tend to look after everyone - staff, customers and suppliers - and therefore have higher customer satisfaction.

Another consideration is the strong indication that businesses which innovate are those that lead and, ultimately, win.

Business Links for London conducted a survey of 500 small and medium-sized businesses in the capital, and found that those using technologies such as broadband are growing at twice the rate of their rivals.

At the other end of the scale, PricewaterhouseCoopers' review of 100 global companies shows that businesses which set technology trends see up to 30 per cent more revenue growth, and therefore have higher market capitalisation.

What are the business benefits of mobility, and how should they be sold as a business proposition?
Mobility is about culture. It's about empowering people and giving them tremendous flexibility in managing the work/life balance. Work is what you do, not where you go.

An employer will find its staff more productive if it is clear about what it wants them to do. That is the responsibility of management. After that, you should let staff work out for themselves how they are going to get there, and where and when they are going to do it. It's a much more mature approach.

Mobility also opens up the field to potential employees. It offers people who are particularly challenged by the work/life balance - often those with heavy home or caring responsibilities - the opportunity to work where and when they want.

It's about breaking down the nine-to-five culture. You work as many hours as you need to get the job done.

Innovative businesses, whose culture is to make employees feel valued and empowered, will be the ones that win. This is the real differentiator between a 'get-by' company and a top achiever. This is what will give your business proposition an edge.

There are some hard facts to consider. A mobile workforce can cut your real estate costs significantly. But equally, there are costs associated with staff working from home, such as telecoms, office furniture, and health and safety considerations.

What is the importance of a hi-tech mobile workforce?
UK business needs to innovate to be globally competitive. Whether you're selling wheelbarrows, chocolate or socks, it's a global market. That's either a threat or an opportunity, and the way you use technology can make a difference.

UK business isn't yet taking advantage of this opportunity. Decision makers say they have to make the most of the investment they have today and the priority has to be cost reduction. Revenue generation comes second.

The industry needs to convince businesses that they are getting value from their IT investments. When we can do that, they can progress from looking for cost reductions to considering how they could do it differently.

What is your view of mobility as a means of increasing accessibility to everyone?
Mobile technology is enabling a whole tranche of the population to contribute to the workplace in ways prevented by the traditional working model.

If businesses employ the technology, they can recruit, retain and motivate the best talent in the market by expanding their employee catchment area.

Mobility is closely related to diversity. Technology has always offered the ability to support a much wider market. On top of the corporate social responsibility agenda, you can have the best of all available talent, and you can have people in your organisation who reflect your target markets.

How can the value approach of 'real-life' IT take on the geek male image?
Technology isn't a boy's game. Compared with other industries, it doesn't have the same legacy of expectation about who can contribute.

If you look at the history of IT development, from the early days through to contemporary research and development, women are often in the lead roles.

The industry and government are trying to attract more women because the industry is missing out on some of the best people.

Statistics show that girls take science subjects up to GCSE, but change course when they think about going to university because they don't want to be 'with the geeks'. The real-life approach to IT will help counter this.

Business has an excellent opportunity to use technology to open up the talent pool.

UK Online for Business
Over the summer, UK Online for Business is developing a range of publications to answer questions about the use of wireless. The information will be available on the website at www.ukonlineforbusiness.gov.uk

THE EXPERTS' VIEW

There is now a very distinct role for the chief information officer which includes the need to measure impact on the business. But aligning the business and IT is still a challenge for the majority of them. - Luis Leamus, senior vice president, Meta Group.

At Boston University School of Management, our belief is that the business world needs more managers who are comfortable straddling the domains of business and technology in ways to build the necessary bridges. What we have found lacking today are managers who are truly cross-domain experts, who don't shy away from understanding the technological issues in sufficient ways to examine possible future scenarios of value creation. - N. Venkat Venkatraman, chairman, IT department of the Boston University School of Management.

In the best companies committed to using mobile for strategic change, the technology is only part of a much bigger strategy, but it is an essential enabling link. We need to define what we measure. It may not be hard dollars; it may, for example, be customer satisfaction. - Carl Zetie, vice president, Giga.

The heart of the cost argument is productivity. The most recent studies I've seen show that 20 per cent of the workforce consider themselves mobile workers. Savings come from people working a little bit more, and a little more productively - Paul Otellini, president, Intel.

What is happening is that the work environment is changing. Work is no longer a place, it's an activity. - Vesey Crichton, European vice president, Palm.

Today we are talking about mobility and the way we work. But all of that is predicated by the fact that we have some hunk of a network that is 'the office'. In five years' time we will see virtualisation of the intranet, so actually when you're talking mobility, everything is mobility. The office is just another static version of mobility. - John Regnault, head of security, BTexact.

See also:

The Value Report

Computing is helping to lead the debate about the value of IT  24 Jun 2003

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