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BUSINESS MADE SIMPLE

21st Century Workforce –and Technology

MInnesota Digital Government SummitJuly 23, 2009

Bob Gaughanbgaughan@nortel.com

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Next Generation Workforce Expectations

• Provide up-to-date technology to be more productive

• Work from any location, at any time

• Expect multiple forms of connectivity from wherever they are for both personal and work tasks

• Instant messages, social networks, blogs, and wikis are preferred work communication tools

Generation Y do not remember a world without computers and mobile phones.

Technology and the web is a way of life for this generation

– it is not a tool or a mechanism – but an inherent

part of being able to lead a meaningful life.

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Technology has not allowed for efficient use of all communication styles

• People use a wide range of styles when communicating face-to-face

• As the need requires, people move freely from one style to the next

• Depth of communication is also very important – bringing additional senses (e.g. vision)

one on oneconversation

broadcast broadcast w/peer-to-peer interaction

free-flowinground-table

Communication Styles and Technology

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The Web

The Web is an Incredible Vehicle for Access to Information but rather Sterile

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Web 2.0

It’s out there – But what’s being done about it?

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What the heck is Web 2.0?

Web 1.0 

• Personal web sites

• Limited collaboration,

• Britannica Online,  

• Content management companies

Web 2.0

• Wikipedia, • Mass online collaboration,• Blogs,  • Flickr, • Youtube.com • Social tagging, • Facebook, • Myspace • and so on

Sharing and publishing information will continue to get

easier and more advanced

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Web 2.0 and Productivity

Wikis• Allows multiple users to collaborate on the same web document • Allows your employees, suppliers and customers to exchange knowledge and information. • Wikis can become your company's digital knowledge base.

Blogs • Productivity tool for recording and sharing information. Here are a few examples:

• Shift changes--Employees can record what happened on the previous shift and what to look out for.

• Product knowledge--Product experts can benefit the rest of the company and external partners by sharing product information via a blog.

• Customer service--Blogs can be simple mechanisms for customer service personnel to share ideas or advice. 

• Research--Companies with subject matter experts benefit when these experts share their knowledge via blogs both internally and externally.

Other tools• Instant messenger with multiple users in collaborative ways across the globe can improve

employee productivity and save on communications and travel cost.• Troubleshooting issues by having a customer support person view a remote user's desktop

can help resolve problems in minutes vs. days.

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This leads us to Unified Communications……

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What is Unified Communications?

IP Telephony Presence

Conferencing

Video

IM

Email &Unified Messaging

Mobile Clients

CollaborationBusiness Applications

Seamless Convergence of Communications & Applications

Enabling people to Connect, Communicate and Collaborate seamlessly to improve performance

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Unified Communications Value to Government

• Fosters collaborative culture across all staff including dynamic working groups, tele-workers & mobile workers

• Increases efficiency through new communications modalities, presence awareness and collaboration tools

• Increases responsiveness and speeds decision making through greater information sharing and collaboration

• Supports green initiatives and reduces fuel and travel cost through web & video conferencing and other collaboration tools.

• Increases customer satisfaction through new and more personalized citizen access.

• Assists in recruitment by providing technologies recent college graduates are accustom to using in private life

Unified Communications in Government

Unified Communications has a clear role in addressing business challenges

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Next Generation Workplace Framework& Where UC Can Help

Next Generation Workplaces inspire the passion and unleash the talent of the people that work in them by delivering six key attributes of a fulfilling work experience:

•Providing staff with a rich work and learning environment – and the tools and support they need to do the work they like most and are best at.

•Making sure everyone feels valued for their contribution to the organization.

•Maintaining a work environment that allows staff to perform at peak without compromising their personal priorities and interests.

•Giving workers large degrees of discretion to act in pursuing the goals of the organization and trusting them to exercise their discretion wisely.

•Developing rich person–to–person connectedness and belonging that individual employees share with others within or affiliated with an organization.

•Making the mission purposeful – giving employees something they can believe in, something that gives their work and their lives meaning – something that involves a higher purpose.

Source: http://www.nextgenerationworkplace.com/

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Application Integration

• Provide New Capabilities Through Familiar Interfaces•Leverage Existing Productivity Applications•UC Enabling Line of Business Applications

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Microsoft Application Integration

Outlook Word

Excel SharePoint

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Implications for Government

• Technology is a differentiator to attracting the next generation workforce

• Technology will allow governments to reach constituents who are otherwise indifferent/detached

• Governments will need to take a leadership role and rethink existing processes and regulations that prevent the pervasiveness of these technologies

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Considerations

• Privacy / Security – need to ensure that this technology can be used in a secure manner within the enterprise• Authentication• Active directories• Firewalls

• Availability• Is it on the web?• Is the client a reasonable size?

• Cost• Of the technology• Of the infrastructure• Savings?

• Communication Styles – nothing beats the old style face to face meeting…really?• Leverage of existing technology (web and web 2.0 collateral)

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