A BUSINESS REVOLUTION 'THE FLEXIBLE AGE'

The rapid rise of Britain in the 19th century to become the world’s leading industrial nation is generally credited to steam power. However, what is overlooked is the foresight of business leaders in adapting existing business models, in order to maximise the potential of this new power source. As we speed toward the end of the first decade of the twenty first century, businesses are faced with a comparative challenge. Information Technology, generally regarded as the steam engine of modern business, has historically been credited with enabling businesses to work faster and more efficiently. But with the ups there come the downs, and while smart IT decisions have enabled companies to extend their business into new markets and territories, global competition has put increasing pressure on companies to work faster, harder and more cost efficiently, or run the risk of losing market share.

Looking for new ways to gain a competitive advantage, forward thinking companies are now shifting the focus of their IT from cost-cutting, to innovation and growth; using IT to develop more flexible, agile businesses better equipped to service the 24/7 economy. Consequentially IT, the modern back office work horse, is set to become the principle business driver of the digital age. Naturally, after a decade of wholesale infrastructure upgrades, the idea of yet another shift in the IT status quo will set alarm bells ringing for many CIOs. Ironically however, it is these very CIOS that stand to gain the most from the IT revolution. Having laid the foundations for true business agility, some with more serendipitous foresight than others, their companies are already well on the road to true business agility, and the full rewards to be reaped are tantalisingly within their reach.

However, companies serious about transforming the way they do business, and gaining the maximum competitive advantage from their communications infrastructure must consider the following five critical points if they are to succeed.

Connect
During the 1990’s, most mid-market to large businesses made major investments in internal infrastructures to connect the desktop to the data centre. With a good quality infrastructure, and a robust service level agreement in place to support it, many of these companies then sat back and applauded their own dynamism. They had achieved a connected IT infrastructure but had not really reaped any real business advantage from their investment. As a result, belts were tightened, budgets were slashed and after all that work it was business as usual for many large corporations.

Converge
That is, of course, until IP telephony and VoIP worked their way up the IT agenda. Taking it as a given that most companies today have a connected IT infrastructure, the move to integrate voice traffic onto the IP network offers a relatively easy, low cost investment, that reaps rapid ROI rewards. In fact, the business case for VoIP is so compelling that Logicalis estimates approx 40 per cent of mid to large scale enterprises are already in the process of implementing a voice/data convergence strategy. However, in addition to making obvious commercial sense, VoIP is also the next logical step on the road to business agility.

This then is the cross-roads at which CIOs find themselves today. For some, reducing the corporate phone bill will be enough, but for smart businesses, the migration to a converged voice and data network will act as the catalyst for the implementation of other enabling voice and data services, and form the bedrock of the agile organisation of the future.

Significantly, these ‘enabling’ technologies do not require the complex or costly back office and infrastructure upgrades of old. Instead, they are focussed around the desktop. They are easy to use, easy to deploy and make use of the existing IT infrastructure. In fact, in many instances, they are actually already being embraced by the workforce. IP based technologies such as Instant Messaging, for example, are helping staff speed up processes, break down barriers and ultimately do their jobs more efficiently. In other instances unified messaging systems, where email, voice and voice mail systems, converge at a single point of entry into the communications system, enables email to be orated through the telephony system, making productivity improvements and easing the frustration of silo’d communications. 

Mobilise
The blurring of traditional boundaries between ‘9 to 5’ hours at a place of work and our home-life, is no doubt, a major factor in the surge in employees’ readiness to embrace such ‘enabling’ technology. As increasing pressure is put on employees to be more flexible within a 24/7 culture, they in turn, are applying pressure to encourage businesses to help them work in this way. The ubiquity of IP has made extending corporate resources beyond the work desktop, out of the office, and into the home, an attainable goal with very real business benefits. According to the Economist Business Intelligence Unit, electronic tools such as email and mobile phones have improved employees’ ability to connect ‘live’ with others (82 per cent), encouraging them to become more flexible in their responsiveness as a result (92 per cent). Historically, complexity, security and cost have been the principle barriers to extending this flexibility beyond the office firewall, but with converged communications this no longer need be the case. After the initial investments at the connect and converge stages, capital expenditure plummets, with every further step taken towards a total communication evolution. For example, giving employees the ability to switch from office, to mobile, to home phone, without requiring a different number for each, or helping staff access vital documents from the corporate network while on the road, helps employees work more systematically, increases their availability and improves their responsiveness. A compelling business case in its own right, but one made even more so, when you consider that increased staff productivity of this kind, requires only a ‘tweaking’ of the existing IT infrastructure and a small investment in hardware. This sits in stark contrast to the rip and replace strategies that have historically been associated with business improvements of this magnitude.

Collaborate
Having converged voice and data and enabled the mobile work force, the next step on the road to flexible working is collaboration. A recent Price Waterhouse Cooper survey of nearly 1,500 global CEOs, suggests that business leaders regard investment in people and communications, as the key to eradicating complexity in their businesses. Research also shows that successful businesses are increasingly dependent on cross team collaboration to maintain their leading positions. The fact that these teams can be spread across clients, partners and even time zones, is one of the principle reasons email has become the communication tool of choice for the majority of the planet, and why IM is fast catching it up. Improving employees’ ability to collaborate can deliver significant business benefits, including speeding time to market, streamlining communications, reducing travel expenses and generally increasing staff productivity. Something as simple as adding video to the IP network, offering staff the ability to click on an icon to start a video call rather than booking a video conference or travelling to a meeting, is a natural and comfortable extension to more pervasive collaborative tools such as IM. Preference enabled collaboration takes information sharing one-step further, enabling staff to reap the full benefits of a converged voice/data strategy, by allowing workflows to be enhanced or adapted according to the mode of communication most appropriate to individuals involved in the collaborative group. Moreover, presence offers the geographically dispersed organisation a clear 24/7 vision of who is available, and able to respond to requirements as they arise. This taps into available resources to speed delivery and response times and generally creates a more agile and competitive business environment.

Virtualise
The final step on the road to true agility and competitive business advantage, is virtualisation. Optimisation of back office storage and virtualisation of networks, will enable employees to access critical information at a speed/cost ratio, which reflects the value of the data to the organisation, regardless of location. This, coupled with the enabling mobile and collaboration tools available to staff, will result in a fundamental shift in the way a business communicates forever. From this point forward, the traditional silo approach to information sharing, will be broken down enabling a secure, rules defined, yet free flow of information between a business, and those with whom it collaborates.

Conclusion
Tomorrow’s successful businesses will be those with the foresight to see a different way of working; one that relies on new ways of thinking and a better more efficient way of working. Having taken the steps to connect their IT infrastructure and converge their voice and data networks, these companies will continue to reduce capital expenditure and sweat their existing IT investments, as they head down the road towards total business agility; empowering staff, enabling business innovation, and ultimately, achieving the flexibility to succeed in a 24/7 global economy.

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