Tech and the New Modern Workplace

Host Peter Filitz and Johan Venables discuss the new, modern workplace and what it takes to create.

They cover the huge opportunities available to modern business and give an overview of the challenges and solutions provided by the latest technology.

They also touch on the technology that will revolutionise the workplace in the not too distant future.

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Transcript

Peter: 0:03

Hello and welcome to the BCN Podcast. I'm Peter Phillips and I work with businesses in helping them understand how IT and technology can better assist them with delivering on their business plans, stay ahead of the competition, and equip their staff with the necessary tools to be successful. This podcast series is all about keeping you up to date with the trends we're seeing in the IT and business technology workspace. We are here to educate you on everything that you need to know from a business technology perspective and provide a better understanding on how IT and technology can have a positive impact on your business. This is the first episode, and we're explaining the new modern workplace, what that means and how you can create it. With that being said, I'd like to welcome Johan Venables to our first podcast. Johan runs the Modern Workplace team here at BCN and is involved with the technology trends, products and services that we are seeing in the new exciting business IT space. So, Johan, why don't you tell us a bit more about what you do?

Johan: 1:06

Yeah, I mean modern workplace is a huge subject, but our main focus is getting the right tools in place for our customers to help enable them to work better, more efficiently. And we really focus on areas of helping staff engage with this whole new way of working, you know, especially for the remote workforce. And just really look at all the challenges our clients have and how we can address it by using cloud services, uh, especially around the Microsoft 365 stack. But if there's something that we can't use in Microsoft 365, we will then basically explore third-party cloud applications to see how we can support businesses with growth and bringing people together and supporting their remote workforce.

Peter: 1:47

Thank you for that detailed overview. That's really useful. Now tell me a little more about some of the current challenges businesses are seeing in relation to the remote or hybrid working.

Johan: 1:58

From our experience, what we've seen with our clients and as well as ourselves as a business, there's lack of communication, managing productivity. Another key thing is uh security. As you know, since the pandemic, everyone had to quickly adopt the new way of working. Technology had to be put in place for people to access their data. For example, most businesses now use SharePoint. But another challenge is that how do you secure that? There was really not enough time for people to focus on getting their staff to work remotely as well as secure it. And security has become such a key topic in today's world because you've got people working from anywhere, any networks. You need to ensure that wherever your staff is working, it's secured. But another thing that people don't think about is that what about your home networks? You've got staff that may have a house share with three or four people connecting to their own business applications, but how do you trust that they've got a secure wireless network and the people that they live with? From a security perspective, we do a simple approach which we call zero trust. Zero trust means trust no one. And we do a sort of assessment based on Microsoft's recommendation as well as our own experience. And we look at how people are connecting to your business applications, your data, how they share information, and we look at securing it by applying the Microsoft security stack across your Microsoft 365 tenant as well as your third-party cloud applications and their devices. Now there's various ways of doing it, but what we've seen businesses do is they overcomplicate their security. Security needs to be an approach where you boost productivity. If you overcomplicate it, that means your staff is less productive and it may end up annoying your staff. They're not happy in their workplace. With today's challenges, as you know, Pete, recruiting staff is quite a big challenge at the moment because the market is quite hot. So you want to really try and make your staff's life easy, but at the same time secure it.

Peter: 4:01

Absolutely. And I think you kind of hit the point there. And as you were saying earlier, you know, I think over the last 12 to 18 months, we've seen a lot of businesses have to go back retrospectively and review their setups. Because as you had mentioned, they had reacted to the pandemic, rushed into new products and services, and not really taken the appropriate approach, so to speak, in better understanding what it is that they need long term. And I think you touched on it, the cloud readiness assessment from our dealings with some of our clients. That's key, right? Do you want to talk a little bit more about the cloud readiness assessment and how that feeds into the modern workplace?

Johan: 4:57

Yeah, sure. So we've created a cloud readiness assessment for our clients who are interested to go cloud. We pretty much look at the entire state. We have a look at your data, we have a look at the technology you're using. And the majority of the clients that do a cloud readiness assessment still have on-premise services. So we'll have a look and see if they've got any third-party business applications on their servers. And if so, we'll have a look and see if there's a cloud offering for it. If not, we will then look at other ways to basically move it into the cloud, giving them sort of a hybrid solution where they can utilize something called Microsoft Azure, which gives you a virtual desktop. You can host your virtual service within that structure. And then we just do a full-on review of your data to see what can be lifted into SharePoint. Because look, the majority of the clients that we deal with are already invested with Microsoft 365. And with SharePoint included with a monthly subscription, that's the first option we would look at. But there's a journey to it, and this is where a lot of companies make mistakes. They believe that all traditional ways where you just do a lift and a shift or migrate services to new hardware, you know, those days are gone. With the new technology available in the cloud, you need to do a delegate approach where you involve your staff from the beginning, do workshops with them, show them what's possible, what can be done, and then use them as your consultants to tell you how they want to use it. A lot of businesses have spent days and days on consultancy services where they end up feeling they should tell their staff how to use this technology. And that's where they fail. Especially you see it more with IT managers, where they still believe they know how staff should be using technology. When it comes to it after doing all the consultancy, the user adoption experience will fail. People will not like it, they will feel that they don't understand it, they don't know why they are using it, because you haven't involved them from the beginning. But if you did involve them and you completed those workshops, they will tell you how it needs to be structured, how they need to be using it. And then once it comes to Go Live Day, we do a little small workshop session around that structure just to remind them again on how they're going to be using it. And then you'll find that people are more productive and they will continue looking at improving the way they are working in the environment because they understand the end goal. And as you know, with SharePoint, there's a lot of things you can do, but we always like to just start off with the basics, keep it simple, making sure people are just embracing that new environment.

Peter: 7:32

Yeah, it's so true. And I mean, if you we are creatures of habit and we don't like change, right? And any change is generally perceived as a negative, which is why it's so important that you bring your staff into these discussions around how this new technologies and services can be used to enhance their working experience. Because, as you say, you know, if it's pushed down from the top, it will be met with resistance, which ultimately can cost the project success, which is really not what you want. Can you tell me a little more about what some of the consequences are to the mistakes we are seeing that some clients are facing as a result of not doing the necessary due diligence and covering all bases before moving to cloud-based services?

Johan: 8:22

Yeah, sure. I mean, I mentioned it earlier, and that's you know, when I talked about the security and overcomplicating it, you've got the potential of losing staff. Now, the same goes with the approach of telling them how they should use technology. If they're not productive, then it causes frustrations, and not just with the staff members, across all the departments. Because if you invest in technology, all the departments need to be able to collaborate and work together as a team. Overcomplicating it will end up causing more frustrations to your staff. They will be unhappy, and that will follow through to your clients. Another area as well is that onboarding of new staff members. If you haven't gone and done your due diligence by documenting the way they're going to be using the technology with training videos, etc., then they're going to have a very difficult time getting to know the systems and how to operate within their department. And that too can result in new joiners leaving the company. You want to give them that nice rich experience by providing them with an internet site where they can find all the information on how to engage with the other departments, how to use your tools with good training videos, how to guides, etc., as well as provide a nice game chart of all the staff members, who they report to, and stuff like that. And another thing that I find that clients really like is that broadcasting your company values to show them what we are all about, what is our focus, what are our key objectives as a business. And when a new starter joins a company and they have that sort of technology in place, you'll find that it's a much faster and richer onboarding experience for them, meaning the managers can focus on other areas in the business to look at improving the way they work instead of having to explain everything to them.

Peter: 10:03

Yeah, I mean that's that's a hot topic of conversation. And a lot of businesses I'm talking to who have changed the way in which they operate, specifically from a geographical distribution perspective, have cited onboarding of new staff being a big challenge because at the end of the day, you're trying to build a culture within the business. It's about bringing everyone together, sharing the same missions, sharing the same values, and not being in a close-knit space where you can collaborate and really get to know one another makes that so much harder. Now, tell me, I actually saw something really interesting on the news this week. Obviously, big announcement between Meta and Microsoft. That seems like a real game changer for life as we know it from a technology space. It from what I could tell, it looks like this could spell the end of the traditional workstation and laptop for us. Tell us a little bit about that.

Johan: 11:00

Yeah, I mean, eventually you'll end up with just using a VR headset, keyboard, and a mouse, and connect to a virtual desktop. It's great news to see that Microsoft has partnered with Meta. As you know, I bought myself a VR headset about a year ago and joined a few meetings with my virtual avatar. I had a lot of people laughing at me, thinking it's a bit of a joke. However, you know, it was still fairly new and I did find it a bit clunky. But then Meta went and released something called Horizon's Workrooms. And I thought, okay, well, that's really cool. Let me give it a try. And I was blown away. Once I joined into this virtual environment, I could choose pretty much wherever I want to work, different countries, different office locations, I can change the scenery to my liking. But in the back of my head, I still go, I don't trust Facebook, you know, all the rumors that go around. Yeah, okay, they've done brilliantly well with the whole virtual working environment. I can see multiple screens, I can have a whiteboard, I can do presentations, and it is a really great way to interact with staff, especially for those who work remotely. Uh, you can move your elbows and it will detect that. So when you're talking in a virtual environment, as you would normally move your hands around when you're talking to people when you do presentations, that's exactly what your avatar is doing. It's doing lip syncing as well. So when you're talking, your avatar's mouth is moving. When you're looking left to right, it tracks your eyes. If you blink your eyes, your avatar's eyes will blink. So it gives you that sort of almost realism to doing face-to-face meetings. But then Microsoft announced that they are now partnering with Meta, which made me believe that is the right approach for Meta, because Microsoft said what they will be doing is providing security services around the headset for businesses by using Microsoft Intune and the EMS stack, which will give you a more safe environment to work in. For me, that is going to be a big game changer. They predict around by 2025, that's when VR is really, really going to boom and going to become the new sort of laptop replacement. Now, VR Tech has been around for a long time. It's not going to be for everyone, but there will be a hybrid solution available where for those who get a bit of motion sickness or not really fond of working in a virtual world, they can still dial in using Microsoft Teams. So the entire Microsoft 365 applications will nicely integrate with Meta. So you can still connect into virtual meetings. You can see the persons, you know, if they've got a video turned on, you'll see the people in the virtual room. They won't have an avatar, but you can still collaborate and work together with them. So really exciting times. I'm really looking forward to it. I've trialed it for myself for the last couple of days, and I have to say I was mind-blown.

Peter: 13:44

That's really exciting. For some of us guys who've been in the industry for the last 20 or so years, it is quite astounding how quickly technology has progressed and evolved. What's also great to see is that these systems, these services and technologies can be fully tailored, not only just to the businesses, but the individuals who use them, right? And that is so important. You really want to give each individual a product and a service that they feel comfortable with because ultimately that will drive their productivity and make them successful in their job, right? And that's what business owners want is happy staff who can deliver what the business needs them to deliver. So that's been really interesting. So could you give me top tips of what organizations should be doing in the new modern workplace?

Johan: 14:34

Yeah, so do not force people to work the way you believe in is right. Listen to your staff. Remember, they are your key consultants. You need to ensure that you involve them from day one. And you will see that they will thrive with the technology you provide. It's very important to get them involved so that they can tell you how these applications need to be used across all the departments. Another thing is when we're talking about the whole VR and productivity and making sure they're secured. And we've talked a lot about business-driven processes around how you can improve the way your staff member performs, but you should also give them a fun environment. So going back to VR as an example, you actually get this whole virtual experience, you can interact with your staff members and all of that. But there's also entertainment parts where you can, for example, there's a fitness program. So get your team together, do a bit of fitness programs in a virtual world, have a bit of a laugh, maybe play a bit of table tennis during your lunch breaks, you can play poker, you can do all sorts of events. There's over 1,400 games available for your staff to interact with each other and build better relationships with their colleagues. It shouldn't just be a business-driven environment. Make it fun for them.

Peter: 15:47

Thanks for sharing that. And I think that's so important. As you say, if you're no longer in a single office space, one thing that is obviously lacking is that bonding time outside of the workplace, whether that be team building events or nipping off to the pub for a cold one, using these technologies, you can recreate some of that, which goes somewhere, as you say, in building a closer working relationship between colleagues. So, Johan, you obviously had up the modern workplace department. You've been involved in all these new and exciting technologies. Can you tell us a little bit how CMI can help you with this journey? It is a journey, as we discussed. It's not something that happens overnight. It's a digital transformation that the business needs to go through when transitioning from the more traditional on-premise systems. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Johan: 16:42

Yeah, sure. I mean, we've got quite uh a fair amount of experience and in the last six to seven years of adopting cloud services. And the key challenge that we've seen is that there's a lot of consultancy involved and there's overcomplicated systems and conversations, and it's just time consuming, and businesses don't have the time. So we've taken a very simple approach where we try and provide you with the simplest structure of any application that you'll be using, make it as simple as possible for people to see the benefits of it, and then we'll walk you through that journey. It doesn't have to be one large upfront cost to go through this journey. We do it in phase approaches. We like to keep things simple, we understand what your challenges are, and we will look at the technology that help address you, but also making sure that the transition to that platform is as smooth as possible. You know, there's one key thing that I've seen Microsoft is trying to drive, and they said, think big, but start small.

Peter: 17:48

And I followed that sort of process, and every time it's been a success.bcn.co.uk. There you'll find a wealth of information and knowledge around the products and services that can help you and your business move forward. We look forward to hearing from you, and please, if you have any further questions or if you'd like to know more about the products and services we discuss on this series, don't hesitate to get in touch. Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to subscribe.