Businesses rely on widely distributed networks of workers, be they at HQ, in branch offices, mobile in the field or working at some other external location. Whilst the office continues to be seen as the primary place of work, more and more staff are spending at least part of their working week somewhere else.
QUOCIRCA INSIGHT REPORT March 2008
The Distributed Business Index (DBI)The benefits and limitations of distributed working in the 21st centuryContacts: Businesses rely on widely distributed networks of workers, be they at HQ, in branch offices, mobile in the field or working at some other external location. Whilst the office continues to be seen as the primary Bob Tarzey place of work, more and more staff are spending at least part of their working week somewhere else. Cer-Quocirca Ltd tain employees have always needed to be on the move; today they are better connected but the availability Tel +44 1753 855794 of connectivity means that other jobs that were previously confined to offices can now also be done from bob.tarzey@quocirca.com afar, which also means they can be more easily outsourced to third parties. This report looks at the degree to which the 21st century workforce is distributed and the issues organisations have with enabling this.Clive LongbottomQuocirca Ltd . Branch offices: the majority of European businesses still operate with a traditional structure of Tel +44 118 945 3360 a headquarters with a number of smaller branchesThe average number of locations for a business with over 1,000 employees is 33. In some sectors, like clive.longbottom@quocirca.com banking, this is decreasing; for others, like retail, it is increasing. In the future, carbon taxes may drive Mark Lewis businesses to open smaller locations, relying on technology for collaboration between workers and Riverbed Technology reducing the distance that both employees and customers have to travel.Tel +44 118 825 3203 . Mobility: workers that have traditionally been on the move are better connected, and the mark.lewis@riverbed.com communications technology used to enable this has freed others, such as those working in call centres, to work remotely too70% of businesses say at least 25% of their staff are working remotely for at least part of the week.. Outsourcing: if an employee can do their job from afar then so can someone else; businesses are allowing greater access to third party workers than ever beforeContractors, partners, suppliers and customers are all being given direct access to internal applications to automate transactions and allow day-to-day and non-core tasks to be outsourced.. Distributed business index (DBI): taking these factors together-the enablement of branch, mobile and external workers-an index for the degree of distribution can be defined (see Appendix B)Financial services organisations are the most distributed, partly due to their high degree of external Research Note: interaction, public sector ones the least. Retailers lie between the two; the big chains still rely on a large number of branches, despite the growth in internet shopping.The information presented in this report is based on a sur- . User experience: all businesses worry about the experience of HQ workers, but highly distributed vey of 315 Senior Managers businesses put more effort into ensuring a good experience for remote workersfrom businesses in Germany, Just worrying about the user experience is not enough. It must be measured, because the impact for UK and France. It was com- organisations with a very high DBI, if access is unavailable for some reason, is palpable.pleted during November and December 2007. . Technology: a high proportion of information technology (IT) workers does not, in itself, create a distributed business; the technology first needs to be embedded in business processesThose surveyed included Even businesses with low DBI have a high proportion of workers that use IT. But those with a high businesses with 1,000 or DBI see IT as fundamental to their business processes rather than being a "nice to have".more employees from a range of industries. . Drivers for distribution: the three main drivers for enabling distributed working are business efficiency, customer satisfaction and employee satisfactionQuocirca would like to As a whole, businesses are successful in providing the capabilities to support these drivers. For those thank all the respondents to with a low DBI, expectations are also low. However, those with the highest DBI, and are pushing dis-the survey and the sponsor tributed working to the limits, are not always able to meet their expectations.of this research, Riverbed Technology. CONCLUSION: There are many good reasons for enabling distributed working, but it will only suc-ceed in the lon... [download for more]
