April 27, 2016

Digital divide in businesses is holding back the British economy ⁰

A digital divide is opening up across the British economy, with just over half (55 percent) of “pioneer” firms adopting digital technologies and processes, while the other half (45 percent) are falling behind, according to new research by the CBI and IBM. Despite the UK taking top place globally for e-commerce and fifth place for the availability of technology, it ranks only fourteenth in the world for company-level adoption of digital technology, with many companies struggling to digitise their businesses at the rate of peers in other countries. Companies cite a mix of connectivity challenges and security concerns as barriers to digital adoption, but predominantly they are hindered by a lack of appropriate skills inside their business (42 percent of firms) and an unclear return on investment (33 percent). The report’s findings for the UK echo those of a global study carried out by Cognizant.

April 27, 2016

The digital future of work is more about humans than machines, claims study ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Property, Technology

The claims that robots will render the human species redundant are largely exaggerated suggests a new report from Cognizant’s Centre for the Future of Work and the Economist Intelligence Unit. But we will have to find a new path and it may be one that emphasises human strengths and characteristics working alongside robots. The study of 420 managers in Europe and the US explores the future of the workplace in an increasingly automated world and suggest we will also see the emergence of new jobs involved in the design of augmented reality and avatars as well as a generally greater emphasis on robot-human partnerships in an increasingly digital world. The study claims, unsurprisingly, that the reliance on physical office space will recede, forcing businesses to employ intelligent workplaces which will monitor workers’ environment, needs and even moods.

April 27, 2016

Half of employees say mobile working makes them more productive ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology

Most employees now have access to mobile devices in the workplace and this ability to work anytime anywhere means that 49 percent of respondents in a new global study by the Economist Intelligent Unit (EIU) say mobile working has the greatest impact on productivity, while for 38 percent it determines how satisfied they are with their employer. The study, sponsored by Aruba, claims that companies rated by employees as ‘pioneers’ in how they support mobile technology saw a rise in productivity (16 percent), creativity (18 percent), satisfaction (23 percent), and loyalty (21 percent) when compared to organisations that were poorly rated at supporting mobile tech. While a respondent’s age was not found to be a factor of how mobile technology impacts their performance and engagement, four out of ten Millennials did admit they would never work for a company that didn’t allow them to use their own devices for work, compared to 22 percent of all employees.

April 25, 2016

Driverless vehicles set to create vast swathes of developable real estate ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News, Property, Technology

A new report from WSP and Farrells claims to identify exactly how the advent of autonomous vehicles will have a significant impact on the real estate sector worldwide. It suggests that changes in the way cars are owned and used will free up large tracts of potentially valuable property for other uses. Although the report confirms that driverless cars may increase the amount of people able to use cars for transport, including those currently unable or unwilling to drive, the amount of parking necessary to accommodate them may shrink significantly as shared ownership becomes a norm and road design changes to meet the needs of autonomous vehicles. The end result will be significant changes in the way urban space is planned and developed with a potential increase in the amount of land available for development by up to a fifth. IN the UK this will equate to hundreds of millions of pounds of added value for major city centres.

April 21, 2016

Employees squander a month each year checking email outside of work ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

A study published today by enterprise service management firm Samanage, confirms that US employees are spending a significant amount of time checking email after hours. What is perhaps more surprising is the amount of time they spend on this. The report claims that a significant proportion of workers are spending far more time emailing outside the office than they do taking vacation. Among the 1,500 US adults surveyed in the Email Overload Survey, more than one in three (35.2 percent) check email at least one hour a day outside of work hours, totaling more than 30 days of extra work per year. Given the average US worker receives 10 days of vacation annually, employees are spending triple that amount of time emailing after work hours. It’s also clear that Americans have a hard time putting down their mobile device and stepping away from email as respondents reported checking their work email instead of sleeping or eating.

April 20, 2016

Traditional performance management fails to match new digital workplace ⁰

by Sara Bean • News, Technology, Workplace

Performance management plays a key role in helping organisations measure how effectively their employees are contributing to business objectives. Yet despite 94 percent of workforce leaders in a global survey believing performance management improves business performance, only 39 percent of them think their current practices help to achieve their organisation’s business objectives. This isn’t just the employers’ view, within the workforce, 89 percent of people believe their performance would significantly improve if changes were made. The main reason for this credibility gap is the impact digital technologies are having on the nature of both work and the workforce. In the Accenture Strategy report, Is Performance Management Performing? – 92 percent of respondents report that work is faster, more networked and collaborative, and demands ever-evolving skills. This means that organisations need to innovate to keep pace.

April 18, 2016

Great strides made towards fourth industrial revolution, but more to come ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Many countries and organisations are making significant strides in the development of the fourth industrial revolution, but there is much work still to do. Those are the conclusion of two new studies into the preparedness of firms and national economies with regards to the emerging digital economy. The Cisco Digital Readiness report surveyed technology decision makers in eight countries and eight industries, categorising them as either ‘forwards’ and ‘laggers’. According to the report, globally, the ‘forwards’ have an average score of 77. The UK’s score is 75 placing it largely at the forefront of developments. According to a second report from PwC, Industry 4.0: Building the Digital Enterprise, the digitisation of businesses is progressing well, but with a lot of scope for development. The survey of more than 2,000 global companies found that 33 per cent of firms rate their digitisation levels as high, but the value will hit 72 percent over the next five years.

April 8, 2016

93 percent of UK mobile phone users have their location tracked daily ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Flexible working, News, Technology

You may recall a couple of news stories from January that sparked a fleeting debate about the way technology allows firms to pry into where we are and what we are doing. The first concerned the installation of under-desk sensors at the offices of The Daily Telegraph, the second a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights concerning the rights of employers to monitor the social media activities of staff. Our take on these stories was that neither was quite as it was reported, but maybe there’s more to concern us in a claim from an advocacy group called Krowdthink that Wi-Fi and mobile networks in the UK routinely track our location and sell data to marketing firms and other third parties. The organisation has initiated a new campaign called Opt me out of Location to highlight what it considers the privacy implications of a situation in which 93 percent of mobile phone users in the UK have their location monitored, usually without their knowledge.

April 5, 2016

Rise in number of virtual employers with remote teams of workers ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

When, where, and how people work has changed dramatically over the last ten years – telecommuting has grown 103 percent over in the US and an estimated that 50 percent of people will work remotely by 2020. While many companies have begun to integrate remote work, there is a growing trend for firms to fully embrace remote work as an integral part of their business. Virtual companies that operate with fully or heavily distributed workforces now come from many industries, including accounting, health, law, marketing, non-profit, news/media, sports, travel and others. However the best sectors to find a remote post are in Computer/IT, HR/Recruiting and Education; according to the third annual list of virtual companies compiled by FlexJobs. The diversity of companies represented in this year’s list, demonstrate that the remote work model can be applied regardless of company size and/or industry.

April 5, 2016

Scientific management and the enduring love of the open plan office

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Furniture, Technology, Workplace design

There are many reasons why organisations like open plan offices. When it comes to making the business case for them however, firms prefer to talk about some more than others. So while they prefer to focus on the argument in terms of how openness can foster better lines of communication, collaboration, teamwork and team spirit, they talk rather less about the fact that the open plan is a lot cheaper than its alternatives and how they like it because it allows them to keep an eye on what people are doing. In theory, a great deal more of this surveillance now happens electronically so the need for physical presence should be less pressing, but the residual desire to see with one’s own eyes what people are doing remains. This is the instinct that constrains the uptake of flexible working and also means that there is a hierarchical divide in who gets to decide where they work.

April 5, 2016

BIFM launches new guide to construction and design processes ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News, Technology

The British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) has launched its new ‘Operational Readiness Guide: A guide to ensuring long term effectiveness in the design and construction process’. The guide aims to ‘equip facilities management professionals with the skills, knowledge and guidance to effectively engage at each stage of the design and construction process to deliver greater value to the end user organisations that occupy the buildings.’ Its launch coincides with the first day that centrally procured public sector projects in the UK will require the implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) at Level 2. The authors claims that in order for FMs ‘to deliver long term effectiveness and relevance for the end user facilities management professionals need to be engaged from the start and learnings and insights from operators applied to close the gap between building design and performance’.

April 4, 2016

Growing divide in US firms between the digital haves and have-mores ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News, Property, Technology

Last week we reported on the ways in which the UK government and British firms are falling short in their approaches to the increasingly digital world. It would be wrong to assume that this is solely an issue on this side of the pond however. A recent report from McKinsey highlights how specific sectors and businesses in the US are also sometimes struggling to meet the challenges and embrace the opportunities presented to them by the digitisation of the economy. The report suggests that overall US firms are only realising around 18 percent of their ‘digital potential’ and the major challenge the US faces is no longer bridging the gap between the digital have and have-nots, but the digital haves and have-mores. Intriguingly the report also breaks down this divide by individual sectors, thereby highlighting those parts of the economy that stand to gain most from bridging the digital divide.