1. How do I know who’s a candidate for mobile officing?
2. Is my company ready for a mobile officing program?
3. Isn’t mobile officing the same as teleworking?
4. What types of companies/organizations have mobile officing programs now?
6. How is Office Hoteling different from Hot desking, Free addressing, Virtual Officing?
7. Do mobile workers need different equipment or services than non-mobile employees?
1. How do I know who’s a candidate for mobile officing?
There are several ways to determine the answer to this question (If you’re a consultant, sales rep, active teleworker, or someone who spends a lot of time off-site, you’re a mobile worker by default). If you’re not currently mobile, but think you could be, consider the following:
What’s your job? If some or all of your work could be done off-site, you’re a possible mobile worker. Mobile workers often perform some of the following tasks:
- Auditing reports
- Analyzing data
- Conceptualizing, reading, and writing
- Scheduling
- Entering data
- Graphics design
- Selling
- Consulting
- Work off-site at least 20% of the time
- Require less supervision
- Have a high level of job knowledge and skill and are comfortable with technology
- Are well organized
- Demonstrate a high level of productivity
- Have a history of reliability
- Know job goals and objectives
- Know about promotions and benefits
- Prioritize tasks
Generally, companies with a large amount of mobile workers or companies with a desire to reduce real estate costs are optimal candidates for mobile officing programs. Often, these companies need an organizing tool to manage the mobile work environment.
The first companies to adopt true mobile officing programs (also known as alternative officing, progressive officing, and office hoteling) were professional service and technology firms. Companies like Ernst & Young and IBM saw an opportunity to reduce real estate costs by introducing shared workspaces for mobile employees. Today, many companies in many different industries are managing successful mobile officing programs.
3. Isn’t mobile officing the same as teleworking?
No, not exactly. Mobile officing refers to a larger scope of activity, whereas teleworking has historically been associated with “working from home.” However, the delineation is not as simple as it sounds. Some experts refer to telework as an umbrella term encapsulating all forms of mobile work. Confusing the issue further is the term “telecommuting” which is often used to describe work-at-home programs.
AgilQuest uses the term mobile officing to define all forms of work that require the worker to work outside the traditional office. Mobile officing is a new work paradigm gaining acceptance in all sectors, and is greatly influenced by advances in communication technology.
4. What types of companies/organizations have mobile officing programs now?
Many different types of companies have mobile officing programs. All Big Five consulting and accounting firms, as well as many other service firms, have established national, if not global, mobile officing programs. Technology companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems have all recognized the substantial benefits to be gained by organizing mobile officing arrangements, and now profit considerably every year. The latest sectors to adopt the mobile officing paradigm are the financial and consumer packaged goods areas, as well as fast-growing dot-coms. Each of these types of companies has a substantial need to reduce real estate costs in an increasingly competitive market.
5. What is Office Hoteling?
Office Hoteling is one method of enabling mobile officing programs. A good office hoteling system will allow you to automate:
- Scheduling and reservation of workspaces
- Alternative Office Management
- Phone switching
- Interoffice Travel
Office Hoteling is the office management strategy that considers certain office resources, such as workspaces and equipment, to be shared assets, rather than assets owned by specific individuals within the company. By sharing assets between employees, any organization can optimize the efficiency of their office, reduce their real estate costs by employing more people in the same space, and increase employee satisfaction and retention by giving them access to workspaces and resources whenever and wherever they need them.
Office Hoteling is typically characterized by reservation and check-in processes, and includes telephone switching functionality. AgilQuest has been implementing and supporting office hoteling programs since 1994.
6. How is Office Hoteling different from Hot desking, Free addressing, Virtual Officing?
Office Hoteling, through software and management tools, optimizes the efficiency of an office. An enterprise-wide hoteling system has the ability to link all of a company’s offices in a pool of dynamic, reservable resources. Hot desking, free addressing, and virtual officing, on the other hand, emphasize employee mobility within single offices, often at the expense of managerial control over employee movement.
Office Hoteling considers the office to be akin to a hotel. Employees make reservations and check-in, thereby allowing management to track utilization of workspaces. Conversely, hot desking and similar solutions consider the office to be a parking lot – workspace available on a first come, first serve basis. There is no advance reservation capability, no check-in ability, and phones are typically forwarded instead of switched.
7. Do mobile workers need different equipment or services than non-mobile employees?
It depends. Most companies have taken to outfitting all mobile workers with laptops and cell phones to increase their mobility. Typically, mobile workers require less equipment and less material resources. The trade-off, of course, is that mobile workers often require high-speed Internet connections to the corporate LAN.
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