The Future of Work – The Work-Life Integration

 

Over the last few decades, we have all heard about this the Work-Life balance; many of us have even managed to find it. For some its about getting the right amount of family and social life to balance out the stresses of the 9-5 workday. But as workdays get longer, and smartphones and tablets become more prevalent for employees, we will definitely be seeing a new way of working. The Work-Life integration.

The Chartered Management Institute published a report earlier this month outlining some of the key work changes that will be faced in 2018, and one of the interesting things for me, was the exodus from the traditional workspace. This exodus will be partly caused by environmental pressure to reduce carbon footprints as well as demographic pressure of an ageing population, leading to a blurring of boundaries between family and career. I also personally feel that many commuters are now getting so fed up with poor transport infrastructure, whether on the road or the rail, that working from home is best way to optimise a lot of knowledge workers time.

So what does this new way of work mean to me, I hear you cry?  Well as someone who has already embraced the work-life integration, perhaps an insight into my life my help. My head office is just outside London which takes me 2hrs to drive to; I have a satellite office in Reading which is just over an hour to get to; both these travel times exclude the additional rush hour delays of course. I also have my home office in the Cotswolds that takes me less than a minute to get to; it is a nice quiet space with a Cisco home office kit including secure access into my Office network. I also have an work laptop, an iPhone and a personal iPad.

So if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know I have a new West Highland Terrier puppy called Archie. He likes waking me up before 7am every morning without fail. So I get up, have breakfast and turn on my iPad to start catching up on all my project activity and messages on the Cisco Social Business portal Quad. Once I’m up to speed on activity, I put my boots on and take Archie out for a walk on Minchinhampton Common. Luckily for me, there is good reception up on the Common so I can keep in touch with email and make any early morning calls. After about an hour I come back home and work for the rest of the morning in my home office, including various video and web meetings using WebEx. If I need to have a Telepresence conference meeting, I drive to my Reading office obviously now avoiding the most of the traffic. I may stop off on the Motorway Services to have a Flat White coffee and complete some work actions on my iPad from earlier; the wif-fi is free. When I get home I often relax, go to the gym and then have dinner. In the evening I’m on my iPad working while my other half watches her programmes.

The fact is, every day may be different, but the key success behind it all, is that I can work from anywhere that has 3G or wifi access. My company has given me some tools, I have also bought my own. My office is no longer the building just inside the M25, its now anywhere I go. A lot of the baby boomer generation feel that working from home isnt really working. But for me, I am at least 20% more efficient when I work the way I do. I also think the quality of my work is better as Im less stressed and able to think outside the box better when required. According to Chartered Management Institute, we’ll all be working like this in the future, which should decrease the amount of cars on the road and increase the number of available seats on trains. We can also see an increase is trade for pubs, restaurants and service stations who will now be filled with more people tapping away on mobile devices. Just don’t forget to turn them off occasionally

Clouds + Mobility = Improved Collaboration

As someone who always recommends a short video in any partner or customer presentation to bring it to life. Here is the latest viral video from Cisco that was posted on YouTube over the weekend.

The message is clear, “Clouds and Mobility improve Collaboration“

I’ve heard that Cisco have hired a couple of Marketing folks from the Microsoft Office365 team and it looks like they have got straight into action with this this video; highlighting a few of Cisco’s strengths against their old employers. Thankfully its not the usual Cisco technical spin; its a video aimed at getting Managers and Directors thinking about the strategic agenda of their business.

Have a look and let me know what you think?

Is it time that Apple reinvent the Wristwatch?

I was chatting to some LikeMinds the other day about the future of Apple now that Steve Jobs has sadly passed away. The company has obviously made Computers and Laptops cool; it also created a booming Smartphone and Tablet market which has changed the way that people collaborate both socially and within the Enterprise.

But what is left for Apple to reinvent? Well an obvious answer is the Television. If you think of the mantra of 3 screens and the Cloud; the 3 screens being Computer, Smartphone and TV. Then we should see Apple enter this market soon; ok, they do already have Apple TV but this hasn’t really taken the world by storm. An iconic television would do however. Apple will face huge competition in this field from Sony and Samsung. Already reinventing the TV with 3D and internet capabilities.

Another new market for them could be the Smartwatch. In true Apple style they have dabbled with the iPod Nano watch, almost testing the concept out on their fanbase. I have a friend who loves his, but essentially its only a music device on your wrist. Plus it looks so fragile, Im pretty sure that if I had one, it would be broken by the end of the day.

But now that Apple has iCloud and Siri, suddenly the idea of an “iWatch” could be an exciting prospect! Imagine be able to use Siri on your iWatch as a remote control, as a link between all your other Apple devices; perhaps commanding music and films from your Mac down to your TV. It sounds like something out of the Jetsons, but essentially the technology is there (about time too!). There are also rumours of Apple investing in curved glass R&D which could indicate that they are looking to improve the sharp edged iPod Nano, perhaps to make it more wearable.

Will people wear technology? Of course! But you need to make it look extra stylish. Jawbone had a go recently releasing their “UP“; a wristband that makes you healthier. But it flopped as it just looks to ugly. Nike’s launch of their fitness and calorie tracker, Fuelband is a step in the right direction. Last I read, there was still a huge waitlist to get one; perhaps taking a gimmick out of the Apple PR rulebook.

There is a huge risk for Apple though. The youth of today no longer wear watches as its seen a single purpose device; instead they use their smartphones to tell the time. If Apple were to release a Smartwatch, it needs all the design power of Sir Jonathan Ive to make sure it works not only in the Tech market, but also in the Fashion one.

Virgin Media enables Flexible Working with Cisco Social Collaboration Software

If you follow my twitter or LinkedIn, you would have seen me post this video earlier in the week. Its a great reference study for Cisco’s social and collaboration solutions. I met some of the Virgin Media guys at the Cisco Collaboration Summit in Barcelona a couple of months back and they were raving about Cisco Quad, Jabber and WebEx. They said that since they implemented the solutions, 77% their employees felt that they were more productive than before. This is a huge figure and points towards the Enterprise moving away from the inbox to a more Social, more Collaborative way of working.

If you watch the video, you can also see that many of the Virgin Media employees are using multiple devices; Macs, PCs, iPads and smartphones. This goes back to my true belief of what Cloud Computing is; a similar user experience across multiple devices, wherever you are.

 

Business Together as a Service

I tweeted this video earlier today, but I wanted to blog about it too.
Orange Business Services & Cisco have created ‘Business Together as a Service’; a Unified Communications & Collaboration service in the cloud. What I like about this offering is that to me, this is a true cloud service. Leading UC and Collaboration solutions available across multiple operating systems and devices, on demand and secure. What I also like, is that it’s an individual service for individual companies, not a one size fits all public cloud offering.
Have a look and let me know what you think?

Amazon Fires up the Tablet market

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos introduces the Kindle Fire

Yesterday’s launch of Amazon’s new Tablet, the Kindle Fire, has stirred up all sorts of trouble for the other vendors in the same space.

Will Apple be hurting? A little bit, but it’s really RIM, Microsoft and the other Android tablets that are in for a tough time. Amazon seem to have created a lovely device and new web browser aimed at the mass market. There is plenty of people that want an iPad but don’t want to pay the premium for a Tablet. We all saw what happened when HP did a firesale on their Touchpads, the price point was just right for the mass market.

There are also plenty of people out there that love their Kindle’s and prefer the smaller form factor. I’m a new Kindle user. I read 4 books on holiday last week and loved the device. When my iPhone blew up I even tried out the Kindle browser. It wasn’t great, but it looks like Amazon have invested a lot of R&D to build their new Silk browser. It looks very slick and uses Amazon’s EC2 cloud to really optimize the user experience.

I think the Kindle Fire is really going to put huge pressure on Microsoft. Consumers are now seeing that you can buy really capable devices without having to spend the Steve Ballmer OS tax. Do users need Windows 8 and Office outside of the workspace? Not really.  And I think that the reality of this issue has hit home after the mass walkout during Ballmer’s speech at the Microsoft Company meeting last week.

But the key to Amazon’s success is going to be content. Their vast amount of books, magazines and music means that the Kindle is certain to be a must have device. Portable, slick, easy and powerful when on the Internet.  I have been trying to think what sort of people will buy one? To be honest at that price I think its pretty much aimed at everyone.  In today’s consumer market, it’s the content that is king. Amazon has that in bucket loads, and all on a device less than $200.

The Social Network to Social Business

I’m really bored of Facebook; it just doesn’t give me what I want anymore. I find myself scrolling through lots of irrelevant pointless updates and information that I really could do without. OK, its great for keeping in contact with friends and posting photos, but the activity feed is becoming pointless bar a few exceptions. I know the new “Subscribe” button may improve this but I’m still waiting to see.

I am however, still a huge fan of Twitter. Or more realistically, I am a fan of Tweetdeck. Purely because I can split the people I follow into topic areas, Technology, Social Business, News etc. So depending on what I want to know at a particular time , I can find it or find someone who might know about it. But what Tweetdeck doesn’t do, is make the viewing user experience as pleasurable; I can’t preview photos or links so I’m sure I just skip over a lot that I may be interested in.

This maybe where Google+ will provide the happy medium? Ok, it’s not brilliant yet either, but it seems to be trying to be best both of both worlds. I like their use of circles and huddles so I can decide what information to view and with whom; it seems a more structured way of consuming the vast amount of content that is out there. At the moment thought, the users of Google+ seem to be more of a professional audience and not the GenY or Millennials that Google probably wanted. But is that a bad thing? Not for me.

As someone who is focused on Social Business Collaboration I can’t wait until we see Google+ as part of Google Apps. I’m a fan of software like Yammer and Jive that really allow employees to collaborate better. But it’s the ability to collaborate on documents that really allows social software to really enter the Enterprise. Software like Cisco Quad is where I think Social Business is really headed with the blend of social networking  but with the Enterprise ready document management. Google+ will inevitably have this is well, all in the cloud which makes it available to even the smallest company.  Then when you add in end to end unified communications such as IM and video, whether its Google Voice or Cisco Jabber, you create the optimal user cockpit for your employees.

Quad, like Google+, will also have the potential of their own  Apps Marketplace which will allow 3^rd party software vendors to build plugs such as Finance & CRM apps. The outcome of this is that the whole Business can embrace Enterprise 2.0 rather than keeping it in purely a GenY silo. So when Management say that Social Business is just like Facebook, you can be confident that won’t be the case.

Mobile Collaboration – New Forrester Wave

Here is the latest Forrester Report outlining the leaders in Mobile Collaboration. Forrester looked at a number of factors (15 criteria total) when creating this Wave, including enterprise readiness and cross-platform support. They also only considered cloud-based applications that worked across multiple mobile operating systems; this meant that vendors such as Apple, Microsoft and Blackberry werent considered.

However this Wave is new one for Forrester and it sort of shows; I dont think you can really compare Web Conferencing solutions with file storage. It doesnt really make sense. A list may work, but not a wave. Saying that its great to see Cisco still riding high with WebEx, its a great collaboration solution and works on pretty much any device. To me, thats the true meaning of Cloud Collaboration.

 

The decision to include only cloud-based apps is an indication that the future belongs to the mobile app Internet, which is application architecture defined as “an architecture of native apps on smart mobile devices linked to cloud-based services that provide a context-rich experience anytime, anywhere.”

Infographic: The Startup’s Toolkit

As you all know, I’m a sucker for a cool infographic. And I couldnt resist this one from BestVendor , as its also really interesting to see the different tools and applications that Startups and Small Businesses use across the company and not just Office365 or Google Apps.

What is the Market saying about Office365?

Office365 vs Google Apps

Essentially Office365 is Microsoft’s answer to try and protect the cash cows of Microsoft Office and Windows Operating System from Google Apps. However Google doesn’t seem too worried about  Microsoft’s latest release claiming in their “365 reasons to consider Google Apps” blogpost that   Office365 isn’t really a team collaboration solution and is only optimized for Windows-based PCs.

Google Apps certainly has a better Collaboration experience and more reliable than Office365, however Microsoft has the edge when it comes down to their familiar interfaces and number of existing customers.

 

Is it Enterprise Ready?

Assuming it works as advertised, Office 365 may catch on with some large enterprises that want Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and other SaaS applications. However over the last 2years BPOS has suffered from frequent interruptions, and support could be spotty. Just last month, the BPOS email service was hit with disruptions and admins were left in the dark as their service dashboards also went offline. CTO’s are going to be nervous about putting their faith in Office365 and will more than likely be looking for a hybrid or private cloud solution.

Its not a Mobile Solution

Microsoft claims that Office365 works with Windows Phone, iOS (iPhone/iPad), Symbian, Android, and BlackBerry;. however there is a big difference between works with and works well. The truth is that the only part of Office 365 that is thoroughly compatible with a non-Windows platform is Exchange. InfoWorld stated that “outside of Exchange, Office 365 is largely limited to desktop Windows users, though some SharePoint features work with the little-adopted Windows Phone 7 platform — but for 99% of mobile users who don’t use the Windows Phone platform — Office 365 is irrelevant because it is unusable.

Its still not Partner Friendly

Can partners white label Office 365 and manage customer billing? No. And that’s a big concern for some channel partners. Generally speaking, most VARs and SPs (A) want to brand third-party cloud services as their own and (B) want to maintain the billing relationship with end customers. So far, Microsoft has not introduced either option which will encourage Partners to look at other options.

Hosted UC in the next opportunity

Generally speaking, it seems like email, storage and security are three of the top services that SMBs are shifting to the cloud. The margins for Hosted Email are getting squeezed and Partners are looking for new ways to increase their revenue. There’s plenty of dialog about hosted UC and cloud related VoIP services that Partners can white label as their own. Cisco’s HCS solution is well placed to help Partners capitalise on this opportunity and could potentially transform them into Cloud Services Providers while still maintaining direct relationship with their customers.