This is the age of Agile Working

Workstyles, like lifestyles, are in a constant state of flux. As corporate needs change with the ups and downs of an economy, it is hardly surprising that the overpopulated 9-to-5 workplace of the 1990s is being phased out. Salesmen and workers can now transcend entire continents with the use of Email and video conferencing, meaning the hundreds of miles spent travelling to client meetings are fast becoming obsolete. New technology and workstyles are proving invaluable in terms of maximizing time-efficiency and resources. Not only is being cost-effective a priority during times of economic hardship but ‘being seen to be green’ is of equal importance in our carbon-conscious 21st century.

Corporate strategy is the instigative force behind many of the phrases we hear being used in the workplace. ‘Hot-desking,’ ‘Flexi-time,’ ‘Touchdown,’ – the list is extensive. So, cue the arrival of the latest buzz words to be entered into the corporate handbook – ‘Agile Working.’ The word agile is usually associated with movement: dancers are agile, skiers are agile. By definition, agile means ‘quick and well-coordinated in movement,’ but what does this have to do with our place of work? Answer: Mostly everything – it’s a new ‘workstyle’.

So, what does agile working entail? Much like flexi-time, it is designed to give workers a more adaptable, accommodating schedule that facilitates working from outside the office. If managed correctly there is no reason why working from home or from a client’s location cannot be just, if not more, productive than working from the office. For example, when staff who juggle work with parenthood are offered more flexible working arrangements, it is likely that productivity will increase as a result of better job satisfaction. Conversely, sick days and time wasted on commuting will be seen to diminish.

However, this begs the question of how ‘Martini working’ differs from home working or the flexi-time of the last decade. Well, it is not just about a different time and place. Instead, it is all about doing work differently; new work practices, new technologies and new working environments. The ‘Agile Agenda’ asserts that work is to be viewed ‘as an activity, not a place,’ which focuses on ‘performance not presenteeism.’ So, if this new activity-based work doesn’t require our presence in the workplace, there must be some revolutionary form of enabling technology. Enter ‘Cloud computing’.

The rise of the virtual world in the workplace has seen Cloud computing or ‘Software as a Service’ (SaaS) rapidly replacing server and desktop-based applications, to reflect the changing needs of a corporate world.

Slidebank.com is a good example of just such a SaaS solution. It provides agile presentation management facilities, enabling staff to quickly pull together presentation materials on the fly from virtually anywhere, no matter the distance.

In a time when business transactions take place through virtual meetings and when we no longer need to know what our clients even look like, the rise of SaaS and solutions like Slidebank.com are rapidly transforming the way we all work.

It is mainly business owners leading the Agile Working charge, no doubt with an eye to bottom-line performance. The fact that staff are also keen, albeit for different reasons, reinforces the idea.

Interestingly, we always imagined in the early days of SaaS that corporate IT professionals would be firmly set against externally hosted solutions, nervous perhaps of security breaches and seeing their users ‘abandoned’ to an outside entity. In practice we have been surprised to find many IT managers keen to divest themselves of a need to host and support what are often seen as legacy office applications, typically for slide & presentation management or CRM. The main reason seems to be that IT staff can now be freed up to tackle the more exciting strategic infrastructure projects so badly needed in these ‘interesting’ times.

Large Corporations benefit from massive economies of scale, giving them a big advantage over smaller enterprises. Small businesses on the other hand, being leaner, fitter and with little by way of infrastructure to slow them down can spin round and react to new opportunities in no time at all. The holy grail of business has therefore long been to get the best from both of these worlds and here, for the first time, it seems that Agile Working can and will provide the wherewithal. Put together these ideas are set to free up worker and employer alike – surely a global win-win for all concerned. First however, the challenge is for big business to embrace the thinking and become the ‘Agile Corporation.’ Over to you – I’m off for a Martini.

In these straightened times we’re all feeling the pinch and it’s suddenly normal to be a little edgy, not like a rabbit in the headlights exactly, but just a fraction off-balance. Almost as if you might be wasting time or missing an opportunity somewhere without realizing.

Chances are you’re a little distracted and not making the most of the meetings that really count – the ones where you stand up to make your pitch. These meetings tend to be where large sums are won (or lost), so few things can be as important as the preparation that goes into getting them absolutely right.

We’re all familiar with the scenario. You work late getting ideas in shape, go through agonies wondering if the focus is in the right place, is the message clear enough, what are the hot-buttons, who might be negative etc. etc. and then you run out of time to make the slides.

So, here comes the bit when, at midnight, you start doing battle with PowerPoint. You’re all alone and wishing you had more graphics to draw on, more PowerPoint training. You particularly wish you had that presentation your colleague made last year, because you could have re-used half their slides. Oh dear.

Well, that’s why we thought up Slidebank.com since, wherever you are, whatever time it is, all your company slides are just sitting there waiting to be re-used.

Did you know that professionally-produced slides cost around $100 each but that, on average, they get only used twice? That’s bad, but not half so bad as staying up all night re-inventing the wheel all by yourself.

Having been in this situation many times we got curious and started adding up how much money the company would save if everyone had access to all the slides they might need at all times. Next we realized that the time spent wrestling with PowerPoint could be reduced, leaving more time to actually rehearse our pitches. That’s a massive payback.

The numbers got scarily large, so much so that we didn’t believe them until we’d had an accountant check out the arithmetic. The result was a Financial White Paper to examine how much time & money could be saved by using a Presentation Management system.

Try this for yourself and plug in your own numbers and see much more efficient you can be where it counts – on your feet at the sharp end!
Fact is, with a few well-chosen tools you can be in control of The Pitch; instead of the other way round.