7/29/2019 The IT side of the NEW WORLD OF WORK

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Trends

6 tRENDS

Th IT i th new

worldof work

In a previous ediion of tOPdesk

magazine, we discussed he ‘New

World of Work’, which focussed

on working independenly of 

ime and place. In his aricle,

Bob Smis, Business Consulan a

Imech, discusses several recen Itdevelopmens wihin he New World

of Work.

tExt: nIenke deuss

he New World of Work in paricular provides

organizaions wih he opporuniy o offer a higherservice level a a lower cos. this is he ‘hard side’.

While his of course is very ineresing for managers,

because It plays an imporan par in he New World

of Work, It deparmens also look forward o inheren

echnological developmens.”

Cct, ciaiz a itgat“A Imech, he New World of Work ress on hree

pillars: connec, socialize and inegrae,” Bob eplains.

“In he pas few years, It developmens have been

quick o follow one anoher. Many ools are focussed

on supporing one (or more) of hese pillars. Consider,for instance, the introduction of tools for Unied

Communicaions (Connec), social media such as

twier (Socialize) and FMIS (Inegrae).”

Th ‘ha i’ th n w w

“the New World of Work is ofen viewed from he HRperspecive – he sof side – where i is said ha people

should be he focal poin,” eplains Bob Smis. “the

work is adjused o he needs of he employee. However,

The ‘digiTal naTive’

generaTion knows no

beTTer Than To find allsocial informaTion

online

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clients and employees, allowing you to target specic

people and respond o he ‘wees’ of cliens in your

area.”

sciaiz“In brief, socialize is all abou creaing a social

nework,” eplains Bob. “If you wan o work

independenly of ime and place, i is vial o know

who you are working wih, how you can conac

colleagues and who is responsible for wha. In ordero work remoely, bu successfully, here mus be

Cct“Working ogeher from remoe locaions is only

possible if you are conneced wih your colleagues

and cliens. thus he connect pillar revolves enirely

around he availabiliy of a communicaion channel –

an infrasrucure ha allows you o do your job. there

needs o be an inerne connecion, a compuer, a phone

line, perhaps even video equipmen and of course he

opion o mee each oher in person,” ells Bob.

the abiliy o swich beween media ypes is also

very important. For example, if you receive a difcult

quesion hrough a cha message, you should be able o

call ha person or sar a video conference wih jus one

mouse-click. An example of this is the Microsoft Ofce

Communicaor, in which all communicaions media are

linked in one interface. This is one of the current Unied

Communicaions ools.

“Anoher eample of inegraing (communicaions)echnologies is he new iPhone applicaion called

Layers,” ells Bob. “this ool combines GPS and twier

by scanning he surrounding area, which immediaely

displays all hose who are locaed wihin a cerain radius

and wha hey are wiering abou. this could become

a new mehod of researching imporan issues among

working TogeTher from

remoTe locaTions is

only possible if you are

connecTed wiTh your

colleagues and clienTs

Bob Smits, Business Consultant at Imtech

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Gig g

the New World of Work is ofen linked

o Corporae Social Responsibiliy (CRS),

because smar echnologies help us

o say green. “Using It can help save

signicant amounts of energy,”

eplains Bob Smis. For a while now,

IBM has been working according o

he moo ‘A Smarer Plane’, and

has successfully compleed various

projects such as intelligent trafc

sysems in Sockholm ha have helped

reduce trafc jams. IBM has also

developed a ‘smar building’ for he

Duch supermarke chain Alber Heijn,

where smar elecriciy neworks(smar grids) are linked o sensors,

enabling hem o keep rack of energy

ows and, furthermore, have networks

urn hemselves on or off.

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processes should be auned o one anoher, and,

hese days, his has o be achieved enirely digially.

Consider he way ha tOPdesk is used o suppor

processes, where It is inegraed ino he curren

workow.”

the inegraion of company processes is developing

rapidly, as more and more sofware, hardware

and informaion is inegraed ino smar devices.

“Jus imagine a car ha gives you updaes on

mainenance, informs you when he oil needs o bechanged and recharges auomaically as soon as

i’s parked in he garage”, says Bob. “these are all

developmens in he foreseeable fuure.”

smat thiig“We have seen an eponenial growh in It usage

and possibiliies”, eplains Bob. “We should now be

focussing on using he curren echnology o is full

poenial, and new developmens are always around

he corner, such as cusomer-focussed markeing

hrough social media. By using online informaionretrieved from a LinkedIn prole, for example,

organizations can specically target potential

clients. Because these individuals have lled in their

preferences and ineress online, you can address

hem accordingly. this is wha makes presen-day

markeing so personal.”

Th chag“We have o ensure ha ools are auned o he

user in such a way ha hey are barely aware of 

using hem,” says Bob. the It specialis will also

have o suppor communicaion echnologies, VoIP,knowledge-sharing environmens and documen

managemen sysems. “Henceforh, he goal is

o offer beer and more personal service using

advanced echnology.” the challenge, however, is o

deal wih his in he bes possible way.

mutual trust, which is difcult to realize while working

in a virual eam. Hence he inroducion of digial

work environments containing employee proles,

inernal social neworks and environmens for sharing

knowledge, such as company wiki pages.”

Developmens in his area began primarily wih

personal prole sites like Facebook and MySpace. In

he meanime, however, he business world has also

discovered he online possibiliies of social media,

which focus mainly on sharing knowledge, connecing

with others and personal proles. “Before inviting a

poenial candidae for a job inerview, you can look a

their LinkedIn prole, so you know what to expect,” Bob

eplains. “the ‘digial naive’ generaion know no beer

than to nd all social information online.”

Itgat“I is more imporan han ever o inegrae company

informaion wih curren applicaions,” eplains Bob.

You should inegrae It ino he company processes, in

order o measure, monior and manage hem. Bob also

eplains he imporance of his developmen. “Company

before inviTing a

poTenTial candidaTe for

a job inTerview, you can

look aT Their linkedin

profile, so you knowwhaT To expecT