Hosted VoIP, squeezed desk space and the mobile workforce
Posted by Cloud Net on Wed, May 12, 2010 @ 02:59 AM
My friendly office supplier in Birmingham explained why he had so
many desks for sale. He said "The council is not renewing leases on premises - instead they are moving people into smaller offices and accommodating them by giving them smaller desks, which is made all the easier as computer monitors shrink in size. So I have lots of desks - and all at the right price."
The government report in 2007 identified the maximum space for each required for each employee. The conclusion was that 12 square meters would be enough. This has been reduced from the usual consensus size of 30 square meters in 1997. HMG have been moving staff around ever since as they aim to achieve the savings associated with the shrinking space.
This trend is going to be with us for a long time to come as tenants push for higher and higher occupancy rates with lower and lower associated costs. The current reduction that we are seeing is still based largely around the "one person one desk" paradigm.
However, breaking the "one person one desk" paradigm can dramatically reduce occupancy space requirements as numerous studies around the world have shown. Allowing more than one employee to use one desk space can raise desk occupancy rates from as little as 35% to well into the 80%+ range.
Sometimes this arrangement is called hoteling or hot-desking, whereby companies reserve office space on a "check-in, check-out" basis for employees who are typically on the road. These fully equipped, shared offices are effective in certain situations, but they may not work when employees are involved with team projects or need daily face-to-face supervision.
Another trend is the use of collaborative space outside and inside the office. Conference rooms are getting more use, and there's also greater use of collaborative technology such as teleconferencing, which brings people together at the workplace.
These trends all lead to the need to deploy hosted VoIP business phone systems. Old fashioned phone systems require you to predict what your requirements will be in five years time. There is no one who can do that in today's world. Staff moving, purchase of smaller desks, a move to a new building - these are all impossible to predict. Hosted VoIP business phone systems from Cloud Net allow you to move your phones around to follow people by simply plugging and unplugging the phone. Or if even that is too much why not use a virtual phone which can simply divert the incoming call to whatever device you wish, anywhere in the world. So whatever you choose to do to improve your efficiency there is no cost associated with remodelling your telephone systems - which is more than can be said about moving office walls and coffee machines.
Written By David Hill, Chairman, Cloud Net.