Assessment tool: Maximizing productivity with network-based tools

How much more efficiently could your organization work?

 

Just think of how many small, overlooked delays occur throughout the working day – and how addressing these could add up to big productivity gains. From awaiting a response to a voicemail message to slow-motion loading of applications while on the road, inefficiencies in processes and infrastructure limit the potential for increased productivity. The good news is Unified Communications (UC) and other network-based tools can greatly reduce wait times and enable closer collaboration.

Answering the following questions will help you identify the areas in which your organization could improve productivity in terms of communication, location and provisioning. This tool will also aid in indentifying and understanding the opportunities for integrating new network-based tools to improve and enhance workflow on a day-to-day basis.

Note: this tool is intended to stimulate focused conversations about ways that your organization can maximize productivity by means of the network. When you've completed this assessment, contact your Bell representative to learn how Bell can help you increase productivity, evolving the network into a key business asset. You can also request to be contacted by a Bell representative.

Improving communication

Increasing effectiveness of communication is one of the biggest efficiency hurdles in business. How well communication is handled within your organization essentially dictates productivity. Poor communication is typically caused by:

  • The processes by which people interact with network tools and applications
  • Inefficiencies in the network, applications and tools themselves

There is huge potential for elimination of latency, or delay, in both areas.

Process-based efficiency

If everyone answered emails quickly, or if you could meet with who you needed to right away, we'd all get more done! The good news is that there are many ways to facilitate better communication, and none of them involve more air travel. How does your organization measure up in terms of process and awareness? Ask yourself:

  • What policies and timelines do you have for returning internal emails and voicemails?
  • Is there a different set of rules for client communication, and if so what are those parameters?
  • How aware are employees of each other's availability, and what impact does that have on getting work done? With UC technologies like presence, colleagues and partners can see each other's status, leading to fewer voicemails and quicker connections
  • Which UC applications have you introduced or are you planning to introduce in order to allow employees to connect more quickly and effectively? Choose from the applications listed below:
    • Federated presence for status visibility (busy, in a meeting, etc.)
    • Desktop click-to-call telephone/video
    • Desktop video, teleconferencing and/or telepresence
    • Web conferencing
    • Multicasting for one-to-many dissemination
    • Advanced IP telephony calling and management
    • Instant messaging
    • Fax, voice and email messaging
    • Other

Network-based efficiency

Communication can be faster and simpler, given the right tools and applications running at an acceptable speed. How well does your network help you communicate? Consider the following:

  • How often do robust applications launch and run as quickly as they are designed to? Network upgrades, especially content delivery networks, can reduce wait times and add minutes a day to every employee's productive work
  • What percentage of the time is it necessary to call an in-person meeting to get more than two or three people to work together effectively? Tele- and videoconferencing solutions can bring meetings to life while saving time
  • Do key employees have more than one telephone number, and if so do how much time do they spend checking multiple voicemail systems? One voicemail system and one-number calling saves time and reduces missed connections
  • What methods do you have for reaching larger groups and how efficient and effective are they? The one-to-many connectivity of native multicasting can bring video and other rich media to an audience of thousands with a consistent, high-bandwidth experience for training or other purposes

The diminishing importance of location

The proliferation of the laptop gave organizations a tremendous productivity boost by untethering employees from their desks. Since then, what's changed most is connectivity—first with Internet access and more recently with anytime, anywhere use of enterprise applications. How is location limiting your organization's ability to be productive? Ask yourself:

  • To what extent do employees have access to enterprise applications on the road and at home? When people have the ability to work anywhere, anytime, they get more done. Which answer suits you best:
    • Employees on the road have limited access to key enterprise applications, either because they are not available to them, or speed is seriously reduced
    • Employees on the road have reasonable access to key or all enterprise applications
    • Access to applications limits teleworkers' ability to be productive
    • Teleworkers have access to the enterprise applications they need
    • All employees have reliable, speedy access to most or all enterprise applications, no matter where they are
  • What technical hurdles stand in the way of delivering critical applications at head office and elsewhere? Choose all that apply:
    • The network struggles to deliver all applications at optimal speeds:
      • In all locations
      • Outside of head office
      • In certain remote-access circumstances
    • Security of anytime, anywhere delivery of applications is a stumbling block
    • Security of access to enterprise applications and information on mobile devices is a stumbling block
  • How effectively is your organization set up for teleworking? In addition to delivering cost savings, teleworking is gaining acceptance as a productive way to get work done. With IP virtual private networking (IP VPN), application acceleration, unified communications, instant messaging and other tools, the home office can feel as close as the next cubicle. Choose the answer that suits you best:
    • The proportion of teleworkers in our organization has allowed us to save on real estate costs
    • Teleworkers enjoy the same access to colleagues and/or enterprise applications:
      • True
      • False
    • We don't have a mobile workforce that telecommutes occasionally or full-time
  • Does meaningful collaboration with colleagues or partners in other cities always mean jumping on a plane, or has your organization discovered the cost, environmental and time-saving benefits of desktop video, teleconferencing and telepresence, the three levels of video communication? Can you quantify:
    • The frequency with which employees have to travel
    • The number of hours key employees spend travelling to and from meetings
    • Hard and/or environmental costs of travel over a one year period
    • The extent to which these technologies have saved time and reduced travel costs
  • To what extent have you connected employees in the field with custom interfaces to enterprise applications such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications and customer relationship management (CRM) databases? With such access, for instance, a technician can complete a checklist and file a customized report on-site, initiating a host of actions such as procurement orders and generation of client reports

Provisioning the network

Even with more efficient, updated data delivery protocols, the increasing number of applications in the modern network demand more bandwidth, putting a strain on resources and potentially increasing expense. Running enterprise applications over the cloud is one option, but does it make sense from a security point of view? Consider the following:

  • How many critical applications are running simultaneously over your own network?
  • Estimate how much time, money and/or man-hours are you spending to ensure that key applications are running over your network
  • Many ICT providers offer application delivery over their own private, secure networks, passing on economies of scale and freeing up corporate network resources. To what extent are you taking advantage of this?
  • Content delivery networks (CDNs) are systems of servers sitting on the edge of dispersed networks that lessen the strain on head office servers, speed delivery of applications and economize on geographically dispersed delivery. Are you currently:
    • Considering a CDN implementation
    • In the midst of or finished a CDN implementation
  • Videoconferencing and telepresence are great tools that can increase productivity by reducing the importance of location. Outsourcing these services can govern bandwidth spikes, costs and capital expenditures all at the same time. Are you:
    • Undertaking or planning a cost/benefit analysis of the use of these technologies
    • Currently using or implementing these technologies

Talk to us

You have taken the time to answer these questions, but what does it mean? Bell can provide expertise in planning and implementing next-generation network capabilities. For help interpreting the information you have generated with this tool, contact your Bell representative today or request to have a Bell representative contact you.