When companies and organisations go to Interchange Group for advice on mobile and wireless technologies, they can be sure the business efficiency specialist believes in the product.
Interchange not only extols the value of the mobile information revolution to others, it embraces it wholeheartedly itself.
In recent years, the UK-based company has been adopting the very remote and mobile working practices it sells to other companies. Today, its workforce is almost 100% mobile, with only a very small team of staff remaining office-based.
Powerful technologies
Since it was founded in 1976 Interchange Group has specialised in business technology. Latterly the company’s focus has been on introducing the benefits of mobile and wireless technologies to a wide range of public and private sector organisations.
“We believe that advances in mobile and wireless technologies can transform the way UK businesses operate, bringing widespread benefits,” says managing director Phillip Jones.
“Given that, it seemed logical and sensible for us to take a dose of our own medicine.
“The rise of the mobile information worker is one of the most remarkable business phenomena of our times. Remote and mobile technologies have the power to transform the way businesses are operated, structured and managed, bringing about significant benefits in terms of productivity and profitability.”
Experience and insight
Interchange’s decades in the technology business have given the company an extensive insight into the difficulties businesses can experience when staff are physically separated from their customers, suppliers, colleagues and support services. “We’re good at erasing the effects of that physical separation,” is Jones’ trenchant analysis of their expertise.
As times moved on the company came to realise that remote and mobile ways of working were more than just means of solving a problem, they are positive influences in themselves, bringing benefits to both staff and businesses.
Interchange’s own experience is a case in point.
Over the years, the company expanded, absorbing other companies and, in the process, inheriting a legacy of buildings and facilities spread across four locations around the country. This inevitably led to inefficiencies and extra costs. For Interchange, as with many private and public sector organisations, the answer lay in exploiting mobile technology and rebuilding their business processes around it.
“It was obvious that for us, the concept of the physical office had become obsolete,” says Jones. “Though many of our staff had office bases, they still spent most of their time on the road, leading to communications problems.
“The harder we looked, the clearer it became. It was time for Interchange to switch to a remote and mobile infrastructure – a virtual office, if you like. The technology was right and the time was right. We’ve never had cause to regret that decision.”
Better connected
The transformation started with the closure of one of Interchange’s main offices, transferring roughly 45% of the company’s workforce to mobile working. They were given the option of relocating or working from home with a PC, broadband internet and communicating via a wireless BlackBerry device for mobile phone, email and data. They were able to access corporate systems through a secure VPN (virtual private network).
“It’s significant that even at an early stage, most of our staff opted to work remotely,” says Jones.
“Far from feeling cut off from their colleagues, most of our mobile information workers said they were in better contact with their teams. And there was the added advantage of being able to organise their time and their work as it suited them.”
That first foray into mobile working was so successful that two years later Interchange decided to bite the bullet and close two further offices, leaving only three office-based staff in its data centre at Newport Pagnell.
Technology gives Interchange home and mobile workers wireless access to the company’s document management system and a knowledge management system, as well as a field service system for processing sales leads and time tracking.
Core requirements
Any company can transform the way it does business by going mobile, according to Jones.
“With many homes already equipped with the core technical requirements for voice and data connection – broadband and WiFi – and most householders familiar with using the technology, it’s usually surprisingly straightforward. And as the technology advances, equipment is becoming faster, more powerful and easier to use – as well as more cost-effective for businesses to purchase.”
More and more start-up and existing businesses are thinking like Interchange, thinking that they can improve their efficiency, control costs and achieve a greater return on investment by adopting remote and mobile working technologies such as wireless and VoIP.
Measurable benefits
The quantifiable advantages of using IP and wireless technologies are wide-ranging, from faster decision-making and improved productivity to reduced travel costs and higher staff retention rates.
Internal processes can be improved and speeded up. For instance, directors can authorise payments and undertake other business transactions by email instead of physically.
With no time wasted in a daily commute, remote workers arrive at their desks faster and less stressed. Instead of spending hours on the road and in long-winded meetings, technology can bring together virtual teams in multi-locations through conference calls or video conferences, covering the same ground more efficiently in less time.
Infrastructure savings can be significant. Telecoms giant BT, for example, saves around £70m a year on accommodation costs alone since more than 80% of its teleworkers became remote workers.
there’s also evidence that remote working produces a more motivated workforce, leading to reduced staff turnover and sickness absences.
Last but not least, the environmental case for remote and mobile working is compelling. With organisations constantly on the lookout for ways to reduce their carbon footprint, what could be greener than a home-based, congestion-busting workforce?
Changing attitudes
Having decided to ‘go remote’, organisations need to make a series of important decisions.
“Delivering remote and mobile solutions is not a ‘one size fits all’ affair,” cautions Jones.
“To make sure they optimise the benefits of this way of working, it’s vital that organisations prioritise their business needs and select the right technology.
“Though technological advances are undoubtedly an important driver for change, we see the current situation as being as much about attitudes to working as a response to what technology has to offer.
“Remote and mobile working practices mean changing the whole company culture, looking afresh at the way people work. That’s a radical step for a lot of companies, so it’s vitally important that changes are managed well.
“Organisations need to ensure they have the right staff in place and that they train and motivate them in their new role. They need to look at their business processes and adapt and improve them.
“Many businesses still cling to working practices that are outdated and wasteful in time and energy. Technology can help us change that, giving us more flexible and productive ways of working, while helping working people find a balance between family life and work life, and meeting the needs of today’s businesses and public sector organisations.
"We think of remote working as smarter working. At Interchange we’ve seen the proof of that at first hand.”
