* Intel and others prepare for One Unwired Day
Are you ready for another “take a user out to lunch” day? Well mark your calendars for Sept. 25 and dedicate that day to making your people more productive by getting them unwired. Tagged as “One Unwired Day,” thousands of locations nationwide will be showing off Wi-Fi wireless technology at hot spot locations including coffee shops, book stores, hotel lobbies, airports, and even park benches.
Intel and a cadre of other technology suppliers will pave the way for people to get free air time, demos, prizes, and entertainment.
This is a great way to show off some snazzy technology and see how your end users react to it. It’s also a good time to see what I call the stealth benefits of wireless. These are the benefits that come from having the ability to easily connect at almost any time from anyplace.
I call these stealth benefits, because you cannot necessarily see the activity, but the story is out. Early this year IDC wrote a white paper entitled “Untethered Computing: Feasible, Economic, and Desirable.” The research company looked at quantitative assessments to measure the cost savings and benefits from Centrino-based technology and Wi-Fi. While direct benefits were found based on longer battery life, higher performance computing, an integrated (no-hassle) wireless LAN component, and a smaller form factor that supports ultraportables and tablet PCs, the standout metric came from technology that increases use and productivity. New Centrino based computers are easier and more enjoyable to use. Thus, the truism haunts: “When technology is easy to use – it is used more often.” (I know you’ve heard that before.)
According to the report, increased productivity was evident throughout many different types of jobs all the way from highly compensated mobile professionals to top executives, road warriors, corridor cruisers, and sales and management personnel who manage many tasks and are highly mobile.
Researchers at Gartner estimate that among highly productive organizations, a 35% notebook installed base is common. It states that a smaller installed base could mean that the organization is not getting the most productivity out of its workers. Like the IDC report, Gartner says that mobile, remote and day extender workers would best benefit from untethered computing.
Productivity can be hard to see. It doesn’t have a color, a temperature, or require a change in the ambient environment. It’s hard to track until someone is looking for it.
Consider two colleagues who were in transit on a road trip in Florida. They had completed a report for the West Coast headquarters but were not expected to arrive at the hotel until the wee hours of the morning. Instead of waiting to send in a report, they stopped by (a closed) Borders Books and hooked onto the Wi-Fi hot spot signal. They transmitted the report to their home-office colleagues who at 9:00 p.m. local time could review and add to the report before the next workday.
In this case, a two-minute pit stop moved the finalization of a report up by a day. Gaining a day means a lot in many industries.
So is wireless right for your company? Will it help make the flow of information easier? Can improved productivity find its way to the bottom line?
Aside from the gee whiz factors of seeing wireless technology in action, the real benefits come when people (end users and IT) embrace the technology and use it effectively. The technology is there. It works just fine.
But to get the benefits, it might just take a special day, like One Unwired Day, to focus attention on how to use it to work better.
Check out the participation of sites in your area and invite some co-workers to share the day with you. Together you might find a whole new way to work more efficiently and productively.
Cheryl Currid is president of Currid & Company, a research company studying information technology. You can write to her at cheryl@currid.com
