The flexible working revolution

Computing is in the midst of a flexible working trial featuring VDI and Unified Communications technologies. And the verdict so far...

Computing is in the midst of a flexible working trial. Over the next couple of months we'll be testing various virtual desktop solutions, IP phones, multi-person video conferencing, unified communications toolkits, and also lots of different environments and workspaces.

For example, while I was proofing the next issue of Computing's iPad app, some nice people appeared and delivered a new and comfy looking sofa, and helpfully installed it next to the windows behind me. So I spent the next half hour checking the issue enjoying the natural light, with my feet up. And also enduring lots of doubtful glances from co-workers not involved in the flexible working trial.

And that's one of the issues around new modes of working, and home-working especially. One of the challenges many firms find when they migrate to a task-based management strategy, rather than location (in other words, if you're not at your desk, you're not working) is the issue of trust.

And it's not necessarily the trust between the employee and the employer (because after all every manager should have a handle on staff performance that goes beyond merely totting up the hours they spend at their desk), but more often the trust between employees.

This is especially true when some staff work flexibly and others don't. Sometimes it's inevitable. Certain job functions necessitate being physically present in the office. HR, for instance. It's hard to conduct interviews or manage disputes over the phone - but even then there are plenty of other activities that can be done anywhere, like in HR's case writing policies or developing strategy.

Flexible working is a cultural shift, which can cause consternation when some employees wonder why their co-workers appear to be progressing perfectly well in their careers without bothering to actually turn up to the office very often.

In Computing's case, we've lost some desk space, but if we do all turn up together on the same day (which is a rare thing given our programme of events, interviews and filming), we've got benches, sofas, armchairs or the local coffee shop to choose as workspaces.

Leaving the technology issue to one side for a moment, what we've found so far is that old habits die hard. A huge part of the challenge of flexible working is human behaviour. We've found that we mostly like to turn up at the same sort of time, and sit at the same desks every day, just as we've done throughout our careers. Given the array of workspaces available, we choose the one that's most like our old set-up, then stick to it every day.

That's fine, because you don't change behaviour overnight. Given time, I've no doubt we'll get our heads around the possibilities offered by different environments, with break-out areas and new meeting spaces sure to grow in popularity as we get used to them.

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The flexible working revolution

Computing is in the midst of a flexible working trial featuring VDI and Unified Communications technologies. And the verdict so far...

The larger problem I see is back on the technology side though.
If you want to drive user adoption of a technology - or anything for that matter - you need to offer people a good reason to change. Like water, people follow the path of least resistance, so the new offering needs to be simpler, or easier to use, or provide better functionality with minimal additional effort.

In our case we've experienced IP phones that require 12-15 key presses and the navigation of four separate menus just to log on - then it's the same again to log off. Our old phones required no key presses, and no menus. Sure, we couldn't transfer our lines to follow us wherever we sit, but since we're mostly sitting in the same place every day, that's functionality we don't need, for an effort overhead we're reluctant to pay.

Then there's the VDI solution, which supposedly offers us our desktop environment and documents anywhere we work. Sounds good, except it's slow to log on, and it causes Outlook to crash about every two minutes (no joke) due to an unspecified error the vendor has so far been unable to fix. And then you turn up to an event with your tablet, there's no Wi-Fi, all your documents are in the cloud, and you're on stage in five minutes. Yes, that was my Tuesday morning.

So we've had the option of going back to our old desks so we can get access to our email, or staying in the new trial area so we can have access to our phones. It turns out the flexible thing about this working arrangement has been our knees as we tramp endlessly up and down the stairs between areas.

Then there's the unified communications software. In theory it knows where we are at all times, and is able to divert our calls automatically, or route them straight to voicemail if we're in a meeting to avoid disrupting colleagues with endless ringing.

In practice, our phones have been engaged almost all week, without any of us knowing.

Every technology implementation is going to have teething problems, and the fact that we're engaging in a succession of three fortnight-long trials of different products means that we're doomed to get one just about working as it's time to migrate on to the next. That's fine, it's all part of the trial, and we knew what we were getting into when we signed up.

But what's been interesting is how we've adapted to the ongoing failure of the technology around us. We've been flexible. We've reverted to BYOD.
In my case, after a couple of hours struggling against persistent Outlook and VDI crashes, I opened up my Surface Pro, connected to the new superfast Wi-Fi, which is also part of the trial (and happily, actually works very well), and I was up and running.

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The flexible working revolution

Computing is in the midst of a flexible working trial featuring VDI and Unified Communications technologies. And the verdict so far...

It's got Outlook, and the full MS Office suite, so makes no compromise on the application loadout I need day to day. And it has the dual touch and keyboard functionality that takes a couple of days to get used to, then quickly becomes something you can't live without.

Some criticise the Windows 8 Store for lacking the breadth of support enjoyed by the App Store, or Google Play, and indeed I joined their ranks when I couldn't find Firefox - which I need to run our cloud-based content management system.

But then I remembered that though a tablet in form, the Surface is basically a PC. So I just went to Mozilla and downloaded the installer just as you would on your desktop. Voila, content management system up and running. Now there's nothing I can do on my desktop or laptop that I can't do on my Surface.

We're now approaching the half-way point of our flexible working trial, and my current recommendation is that we buy none of the kit that's on offer. No IP Phone, no UC software, and certainly not VDI. All I really need is a flat desk, and fast Wi-Fi. And preferably a separate keyboard and screen so I don't spend all day staring down and destroying my spine. And also free Monmouth coffee and home-made flapjacks. I appreciate the last part may be unlikely, but you've got to aim high.

My takeaway is that technology needs to shape itself around our working habits, and improve them. Make us more productive, and able to enjoy work more. It turns out the best way to do that for some of us, is to take most of the technology away. Let us use the kit we like the most, and offer services to support that. That's IT-as-a-service.

But perhaps the next few weeks will change my mind.

To be continued...