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Field Service Mobile Working – Free Event

June 7, 2013 By Ken Eastwood Leave a Comment

Digital Nomads Director, Ken Eastwood, is presenting at Field Service and Mobile Workforce this year and we are pleased to let you know that the Ark Group are offering complimentary places to our contacts who are responsible for mobile technology in their organisations.

The event takes place on Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th June in Hertfordshire and the complimentary pass includes access to all the two-day conference sessions, including presentations on recent mobile implementations at Tesco, May Gurney, Crossrail and Maersk, as well as to the networking dinner and drinks.

The event website can be found at www.field-mobile.com. Please email events@ark-group.com if you would like to attend and mention Digital Nomads.

 

A little more about the event from the organisers

The 11th Annual Field Service & Mobile Workforce Management 2013 is now the UK’s only two-day learning event dedicated to the efficiency of field and mobile workforces.

Here are 10 reasons why this year’s event cannot be missed:-

  • Household names such as Tesco, Maersk and Crossrail walk you through their project implementations
  • Find out the pitfalls to look out for before you embark on your project
  • Benchmark your project; is your approach as holistic as it could be?
  • Achieve several months’ worth of project implementation planning work in just two days when you meet with solution providers at the forefront of technological change
  • Gain new peer-level business contacts that you can call upon for advice during implementation
  • Assess the security of your mobile solution
  • Improve your mobile data quality
  • Learn what can be done about generational change in field service
  • All refreshments, food and accommodation are included in your complimentary place.
  • Where is mobile technology is headed? Hear from the experts

 

 

Filed Under: nomadEVENTS Tagged With: field service, Mobile

21st Century Office Event Summary

March 14, 2013 By Laura Fox Leave a Comment

Last week saw the delivery of our Public Sector Nomads 21st Century Office event, showcasing Rotherham MBC’s flagship building.

Rotherham staff gave a frank and honest account of their WorkSmart Strategy implementation and delegate feedback was extremely positive.

I always feel quite privileged to be sitting in on these events where I can pick up great snippets of learning to share with others.

The presentations are available on the website, which give the technical details etc. but the main points I noted during the presentations were:-
The Building / Assets

From Paul Smith, Estates and WorkSmart Manager

  • It is first and foremost a change project – Rotherham quickly became aware that this was actually a change project, not an accommodation project, with accommodation being just one element of it.
  • What will the public think? – Combining a customer service centre with the public library in one building was viewed favorably by the Rotherham public, and this helped justify the initial spending.
  • Think about ‘designing in’ behaviours – for example, Rotherham designed their private non-bookable meeting rooms not to be suitable for more than an hour (they are small with no windows).
  • If possible, have a goods lift! – It may seem like a simple thing, but we have seen how decanting staff into buildings where work is ongoing on other floors can create havoc with people just trying to get to their floor for work. A goods lift would have really helped!
  • Decant is a major project in its own right, so treat it as such – As far as possible get people working in the new ways before moving. Rotherham worked on one move per week, providing a chance to learn at each decant and implement improvements for the next.
  • Don’t forget work and costs to decommission and hold vacated buildings – whoever is in charge of budgeting MUST factor this in.

Once you get the building right, if there is a need to move people around within it, as stated by Paul: “Now we move people, not the furniture”. Now that has to be less hassle!

From Richard Copley – ICT Manager

I got a real sense of pragmatism from Richard. No complicated hang-ups regarding whether things could be possible from a data security issue. That’s not to say that he doesn’t take data security seriously though.

  • Devices should be enabling and what people want, not restricted – “BYOD is brilliant from my perspective you just need good policies and the right technology”.
  • Knowing where your staff are – Everyone from the Chief Exec down have open MS Outlook calendars. Change practices around what people type in the meeting entries, to support the privacy requirements so that everyone CAN implement this policy.
  • But… do clients need to know where they are? – When dealing with calls, people don’t actually need to know where you are working from, just that you are dealing with their needs. You just need the right telephony!
  • Pay attention to the small stuff – Ensure staff remember to use the mute button when not talking but listening on a conference call (a very small, but not insignificant point!); Locate desk power points actually on the desks, not underneath, so people don’t have to crawl about under the desks. Remember, power cables change with devices, so you can’t get around this by having the power cable always available on a desk.
  • Printing costs will reduce through transparency of printer info – Rotherham saw a 45% reduction in print volumes through implementing new working and having granular print billing details.
  • Free WiFi is a win/win – Free citizen WiFi draws citizens in and also supports staff and partners or suppliers visiting the building.
  • Remote access technology increases organizational resilience – As Richard stated: “The fact that people don’t need to come to the building to work makes us incredibly resilient”. The flooding in Rotherham certainly makes this a poignant note.

The People

From Theresa Caswell – HR Programme Manager

  • Make sure you know what success will look like – Quote from Theresa: “We didn’t want a ‘lift and shift’ exercise, we wanted tangible benefits”
  • Give everyone the facts – Produce a ‘myth buster’ guide to ensure everyone was in receipt of the right facts.
  • Empower staff – by involving them in decisions which they are able to influence. For example, it was the staff who determined the final colours.
  • Really get to know what their roles involve – Creating a diary analysis/Day In the Life Of for specific job roles is extremely useful.
  • Set targets that are owned – If teams can’t make the reduction targets, escalate the targets up to the department, and if necessary up to the directorate. That way, managers have individual and collective ownership of the delivery.
  • Travelling expenses is a big FAQ area – Deal with car parking and travel issues and support staff in them where necessary.
  • Ensure the PDR system is fit for purpose – so you can ensure staff performance can be monitored effectively when working to the new ways.
  • Have a dedicated communications manager – if possible, for external and internal communications.
  • Trade unions are really important – Make sure they have the right information at the right time, as they can help dispel the myths directly for staff.

When talking about the worksmart policies, Theresa said: “A lot of the time it is just formalizing current ways of working”. You may find that many of your staff are already unofficially working in new ways, but not admitting to it!

An employee perspective – From Nigel Hancock, Development Manager

In the ‘new ways of working’ areas we have looked at, Planning Services tend to have a reputation for being the least likely to jump on board with electronic ways of working. They are traditionally used to dealing with paper files, and large scale maps, diagrams etc. A walk around Rotherham’s building would leave you puzzled as to where the planners are sitting. Their area looks no different to any of the others.

So how was this achieved? According to Nigel the key was dealing with the workflow, and getting people working in the new ways prior to moving.

They reduced the workflow before they made it electronic. Classic BPR practice, but nevertheless most important. Once the workflow is reduced and electronic, this paves the way for ‘anywhere working’.

Rotherham recognized that there are actually benefits to being electronic, for example, electronic plans can be ‘zoomed in’, and QR codes can be used to engage public re: viewing applications.

The rate of success is impressive. According to Nigel all case workers accepted the new ways of working, and planners can now work from anywhere.

They are not afraid of trying new things, but accepting where the ‘old’ style still has a place. Currently they are trialling tablets on site instead of plans, but still use plans where necessary.

To quote Nigel, they are, “Not totally paperless but more like a ‘normal’ office”.

In the Q&A session, Nigel was asked, “Are you a typical representative service”. This was a very good question. They certainly seem like one of the more ‘up for it’ services, and Rotherham realized this and ensured they were able to demonstrate that it CAN work for one of the (arguably) hardest areas to make electronic to fit new ways of working. This leaves me with the last piece of advice…

Find your ‘up for it’ services and support them working in new ways as soon as possible. Let them trail blaze for you.

Thanks go to Rotherham MBC and in particular Paul and Theresa. I should also mention that the New York Stadium proved to be a fantastic venue.

Filed Under: nomadEVENTS Tagged With: Rotherham

21st Century Office

January 22, 2013 By Ken Eastwood

We’re delighted to have been asked to organise a 21st Century Office event for Rotherham MBC based around their new building, Riverside House. Rotherham MBC will share learning and practical advice and show delegates around their building, incorporating new workstyles and integrating public services including a library, gallery and cafe.

 

21st Century Office Event

 

moreinformation

Filed Under: Mobile & Flexible Working, nomadEVENTS Tagged With: flexible, FM, hub, Mobile, office, Rotherham, workstyle

Mobile Local Government Events

September 21, 2012 By Ken Eastwood

Feature image for LGMW12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Public Sector Nomads ran two Mobile Local Government Events over the summer (Leeds, 19 July and London, 20 September). Both workshops were a mix of presentation and discussion and the feedback from delegates was excellent. The days began by considering the disruptive impact of digital technologies and the changes taking place in society that could prove to be as significant as the industrial revolution of the past.

Presentations followed on specific mobile and flexible working implementations and speakers candidly shared lessons learned.

Discussions at Leeds led to a call for more information on the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) issue and on security and the Code of Connection. A colleague from Gateshead subsequently shared BYOD documentation (accessible on the site) and speakers were secured for  London to specifically address both of these points.

Read more about the events and access all of the resources, including presentations and supporting documentation, HERE.

 

Filed Under: nomadEVENTS, nomadGENERAL

Mobile Local Government 2012 Leeds

July 24, 2012 By Laura Fox 3 Comments

Rosebowl featured image

Last Thursday we hosted our first Local Government Goes Mobile 2012 Event in partnership with Public Networks, at the Rose Bowl, Leeds Metropolitan University.  Despite the downturn in public spending, we had 35 delegates registered to attend from 16 different organisations, which made for a good quality set of round table discussions and question and answer sessions.

The main points I learned from the event were:-

1.    Mobile and Flexible works, and what’s more, there are hidden benefits!

Successful implementations are really beginning to gather pace in Local Government now. The examples discussed and demonstrated by speakers from Wigan and Bolton clearly showed delegates in a ‘no-nonsense, matter of fact’ style, how mobile technology has not only reduced costs, and improved service delivery, but it can also give tangible benefits in other areas.

Imagine at the outset of a waste management project someone had said “Hey, you guys in the Council Tax Service, our Waste Management Operatives are going to increase your revenue by using mobile technology!”  Can you imagine the puzzled looks on their faces? But that’s apparently what’s happened at Wigan, simply through the better collection and exchange of information.  No more shirking council tax if you want your household waste collecting at Wigan!

Similarly, their ‘triage’ style ‘eyes and ears’ inspections of business premises is not only making efficiency gains on the costs of regulatory inspections, but the well managed businesses are benefitting from less ‘interference’ from the regulators as resources are targeted to the highest risk areas more effectively.

2.  Guess what…. projects fail!

It’s certainly not new news to me that some projects fail.  I’ve been there.  But…. Hallelujah!!  It’s ok to say that they fail (bit radical maybe!?) but you know why? It’s because we know WHY they fail, and we can all learn from their failures. Well, that’s a bit of a  ‘no brainer’ really perhaps?  But isn’t it refreshing to hear people freely admitting that some of their projects have failed?

What I really found interesting and encouraging is that although some mobile and flexible working projects fail, there is still an appetite to carry on with implementing mobile and flexible working, because it makes good business sense.  The rewards of successful implementations are testimony to that, and the business cases continue to stack up.  If that wasn’t the case, none of us would even consider spending any of our precious time on them would we?

The reasons why so many projects fail leads me onto my next learning point…

3.  The technology works, we need to focus on the people.

Since my initial involvement with introducing technology for service transformation some 7 years ago, the focus was very much on whether the technology would work.  Could it really be as reliable as a pen and paper? Would it wither on its fibre vine due to a whole host of technical issues that would prove simply too difficult to fix?  Presentations I gave or attended focused very much on demonstrations of applications (live demos if we were feeling brave and adventurous!), and questions raised were all about the speed of the data transfer, or “what do you do if the system goes down”? etc.

Yesterday during one of the presentations, we saw a live demonstration of Bolton MBC’s Flood Risk application.  No-one batted an eyelid or questioned whether the system worked effectively at all.  Now I may be being naïve, and I’m sure anyone who attended the event and reads this will correct me if they think otherwise but… it seemed to me that there was a complete acceptance in the room that the system worked. Discussions I had during the day with experienced officers all confirmed that they were convinced the technology worked.  The main hurdles were either the people or risk averse IT departments.

At the start of the day, NDL gave us some input from the results of their latest annual survey.  Not surprisingly, the issue of ‘culture’ was cited as the main barrier and was a close second on reasons for project failure (top being data network).

It’s not surprising then that the Leeds presenters who talked us through how they have successfully introduced their business change model to ensure ownership of the problem, the solution and the outcome were extremely well received.  We were reminded that 9 out of 10 project failures are people related, so this is clearly an area which needs most attention. There were some very ‘no-nonsense’ messages delivered, including “Employees don’t need to like change management, they just need to be engaged”, (when thinking about the amount of change management resource to put into an area) “Match resource to the level of resistance, not to the number of people in that service area”, and the Leeds strapline: “work is something you do, not where you go”.

Anyone who was following our Twitter channel (#lgmw12) during the day may have picked up on a couple of useful links during this presentation, which Nick Hill from Public Networks helpfully tweeted:

West Yorkshire Change Toolkit

MacLeod Review

On the ‘flip side’ of this presentation, it was good to hear a different perspective from Bolton MBC who are taking a smaller scale approach through producing small rapid development ‘taster apps’ to encourage enthusiasm and buy in from staff. With 50 apps developed already and £72,000 saved from the first implementation it seems the relevance of mobile working has been well and truly proven in that authority.

So, my ‘learning point’ from this was more of a confirmation really  (having just completed an MSc assignment on Change Management which included a mobile working implementation case study) – change management continues to remain crucial to the success of implementing new methods of working.  My action from this? I’m convinced that we need to pull together a show-case of successful change management practices specific to the mobile and flexible working agenda.  If we can manage to throw in a few horror stories too which we can all learn from then so be it.  Watch this space!

4.    ‘Sausage Finger Technology’!

Reading back on my tweets about the event, I was pleased to have captured these two great snippets from Simon Roberts at Wigan Council which I’ll keep reminding myself about:

“You need to understand what you want to get out of it”

“Don’t implement anything you wouldn’t feel comfortable using yourself”

I also picked up on Simon’s reference to ‘sausage fingers’ – a reference to designing solutions that are simple and easy to use.  I really do think ‘sausage finger technology’ could become a catchphrase!

There’s a lot more I could write about from the day, but I’ve already rambled on for quite a while now, so I’ll close with saying a big thank you to all our sponsors (NDL, Kirona, Capita, Box Technologies and Spirit Data Capture) and to our speakers (NDL, Leeds CC, Bolton MBC and Wigan MBC.  Alan Blundell from Wigan took both Ken and myself back to our Regulatory Services roots and made us both feel a little nostalgic.

A big thank you too to Nick Hill and to my business partner Ken Eastwood who wasn’t feeling well on the day but soldiered on regardless (what a guy!)

Resources from the event including presentations and documents shared by delegates post event, are accessible to Local Government colleagues here.

Laura Fox. Digital Nomads Director

Filed Under: nomadEVENTS Tagged With: event, leeds, Mobile

All Change! New Horizons for Local Government

December 6, 2011 By Ken Eastwood Leave a Comment

Digital Nomads Limited supported Improvement and Efficiency West Midlands (IEWM) in the running of a major conference at Warwick University, on 9 December 2011.

With a strong focus on the changing landscape for Local Government this event included contributions from a broad spectrum of high profile speakers, an innovation market place, round table discussions, interactive workshops and much more including a ‘taster’ ‘unconference’ session.

Carolyn Downs, Incoming Chief Executive of the Local Government Group gave the headline keynote address. Further speaker and workshop details are here.

IEWM were seeking to explore the use of social media in the promotion of the event and extending its reach, as well as facilitating sharing and further collaboration.

Digital Nomads set up a LiveBlog to enable people inside and outside the conference to share in, influence and cascade the results of the day to the wider local government community.

 

Filed Under: nomadEVENTS Tagged With: allchange, digital nomads, iewm
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