IT Manager's Handbook: Getting Your New Job Done (71 page)
Read IT Manager's Handbook: Getting Your New Job Done Online
Authors: Bill Holtsnider,Brian D. Jaffe
Tags: #Business & Economics, #Information Management, #Computers, #Information Technology, #Enterprise Applications, #General, #Databases, #Networking
11.2 The Power of All These Connections
There is a tremendous range of “real-world” (as opposed to IT-world only) applications for the new range of hyper-connected software and hardware. In this section we discuss:
•
How companies use the Web
•
How companies use intranets
•
How companies use social media and mobile devices
How Companies Use the Web
The ways that the Web can benefit your company are probably only limited by your imagination. Some of the more successful efforts include the following.
•
Keep your “doors open” 24 hours a day:
Airline sites began using the Web for this reason, but now it is common for almost any enterprise to consider the 24/7/365 exposure of the Web to be critical to their success. Retail stores around the planet sell their goods to users online elsewhere on the Web. It seems obvious now, but even 20 years ago, that was unheard of. (Amazon was founded in 1995.)
•
Adjust to changing market conditions almost instantaneously with price adjustments, sales incentives, product placement, and so on.
Dell, for example, changes its product promotions every few days. Retailers use their websites to encourage retail store purchases, while their retail stores encourage visits to, and purchases from, the web site. Many retailers are adopting this model; retail stores can increase the inventory they can claim to “have available” and online stores can promise quick delivery of products. In both cases, the brand name is strongly reinforced.
•
Provide product information (description, specifications, uses) or company data (financial, executive biographies, job postings, press releases) directly into the hands of consumers.
•
Improve customer service.
Almost all companies provide e-mail options for feedback and questions. Most common (usually via a “Contact Us” link) is the ability to send e-mail feedback. In addition, many companies now are also employing an online chat option for customer service. You can IM, chat, e-mail—many companies offer several different contact options. Companies can receive more precise and immediate market research by tracking customer activity on the Web, as well as web-based surveys and direct marketing via e-mail. Customer service on the Web also includes posting product manuals and other documentation, having an FAQ section for common issues and questions, etc. Large companies are now monitoring what's being said about them on various social media, and taking action to address issues, respond to customer complaints, and change their image in the marketplace.
How Companies Use Intranets
Companies use intranet sites for many of the same reasons that they use an Internet site: for convenience, ease of use, speed, reduced errors, enhanced offerings, and to reduce costs. Common intranet uses include:
| Function | Description |
| Posting of the company's policy manual | Putting the policy manual on the intranet eliminates the hassle of distributing periodic updates to the old three-ring binder. Plus, it ensures that everyone has immediate access to the latest version and dramatically reduces the inquiries to HR and other departments about policies. |
| Payroll information | Employees can use the intranet to view and update their tax information (e.g., W-4 forms) and view their pay stubs. These two functions alone can eliminate a great deal of paper and phone calls. |
| Time sheets | A convenient replacement for paper forms to track hours, sick days, vacation days, etc. An automatic feed to the payroll system can reduce a lot of paper movement and keying errors. |
| Benefit plan enrollment | In addition to viewing information about the differences in plans, employees can sign up, identify beneficiaries, and authorize payroll deductions. |
| Marketing material | Company branding information, common graphics, data sheets, sales presentations, and so on are kept on an intranet, making it easy to update and to give to people located around the country and around the globe. |
| Employee discounts | An intranet can provide information on getting employee discounts on the company's own products, as well as discount programs that may be available to employees from suppliers, customers, and partners. |
| T&E submissions | Employees can submit travel and expense information with a browser. Not only is the submission done online (including receipts, by scanning them to electronic files), but managers can approve the requests online, and accounting can review/audit them online and authorize reimbursement (which is often a direct deposit to the employee's bank account). Transactions from the company credit card can be posted automatically and reimbursed by electronic transfer to the card issuer. |
| Job postings | Many companies will post job openings on their intranet before they post them on the public Web site or job boards. By filling jobs with internal candidates (or referrals from employees), the company can save money on recruiting and advertising fees, and employees feel better about the potential for promotion and career growth. |
| Requesting supplies | Virtual catalogs from the supply room or approved vendors can be posted, and employees can submit their requests, which are delivered to their desks the next day. |
| Company announcements | The intranet (sometimes coupled with e-mail) can be used to make employees aware of everything from the year's holiday schedule to the plans for the company picnic, and from new hires and promotions to the cafeteria menu. |
| Department budgeting | Department managers can see their department's spending history and plan next year's budget. All budgets are then rolled up automatically to create a company-wide budget. It sure beats e-mailing spreadsheets around. |
| Request IT services and equipment | Tasks like requesting new equipment, conference room setups, submitting and tracking a problem, etc. can be done online. User guides and FAQs can also be posted. Tickets to the Help Desk can be submitted, and their current status can be viewed. |
| In-house catering | Ordering bagels for the morning meeting, lunch for the visiting speakers, everything but beer for the Friday bash—intranets often provide that quick-and-dirty method of getting the food brought in. |
| Conference room reservations | Avoid the hassles of having to call different people to see if a conference room is available when you need it; all usage and reservations are made online and available for all to see. |
| Training information | Both materials and the corporate training calendar can be posted, along with the ability to register for upcoming class. If you missed a class, you can view an archived recording of it online. You can also use it to post links to other training and information materials (such as vendor websites). |
The possibilities for using an intranet are almost unlimited. Look at almost any manual and/or paper-based process and there's a good chance it would be more productive, more accurate, faster, and more efficient if it moved online. And, with many of these functions already online, companies are beginning to explore making them available with apps on handheld devices.
How Companies Use Social Media and Mobile Devices
Ways That Help the Company
•
Staying in touch with professional colleagues
•
Monitoring what's being said about company products and services, monitoring the competition
•
Entering time sheets
•
Tracking orders and shipments, and being notified instantly when a delivery is made
•
Responding to customers' feedback
•
Solving problems
•
Seeking feedback and comment
•
Accessing information from the field workforce (sales reps, police officers, health inspectors, delivery truck drivers, service technicians, etc.)
•
Alerting customers to new products, features, services, and uses
•
Identifying the core-base of customers and targeting campaigns to them
•
Seeing how comparable companies are addressing issues and problems
•
Evaluating feedback and suggestions from customer and suppliers
•
Analyzing data
•
Creating and showing presentations
•
Entering customer info, and possibly orders, while meeting with customers
•
Providing customer/supplier education
•
Tracking expenses while traveling
Ways That Don't Really Help the Company
•
Checking personal e-mail
•
Staying in touch with friends and relatives
•
Checking Facebook pages
•
Doing job searches
•
Online banking
•
Checking sport scores
However, it is important to note that while these activities don't help the organization, they probably improve the employee's “work/life balance.” The thinking is that it's better to allow some flexibility in what the employee does on company time, with company resources, as opposed to having the employee distracted that these issues need attention, and having to take time away from the company to deal with them. It is also a way for an employer to recognize that employees have a personal life. And, if employers are expecting employees to be available outside of work hours, it's only fair that employees get to use some work-time for personal matters.
Mobile Device Operating Systems, Apps, and Hardware
To say this market is “fluid” is like saying there have been “a few” patches to Windows. Things change in IT. (On the other hand, if we were scared of change, we never would have even bothered with a new edition of this book—and you would be working in some other industry right now.)
As this book was written, there are four main players in the smart phone operating system market:
•
iOS (Apple)
•
Windows Phone (Microsoft)
•
Android (Google)
•
BlackBerry (RIM)
Other names in this space have included Palm OS, Symbian, and WebOS. While you might prefer to choose only one for your company (and while that might happen, it is highly unlikely it will be the only one used at your company), OSes for handhelds often walk in your front door without your permission. See the section
“Consumerization of IT”
in
Chapter 10, Working with Users
on
page 271.
Most likely, your corporate handheld OSes environment will consist of three:
•
Android
•
iOS
•
BlackBerry
Note that we did
not
say the “largest number of handheld OSs around your office will be … ” BlackBerry is often the preferred
corporate
choice, but Apple and Android are far more popular choices for operating systems on
personal
devices. The handheld market was virtually launched with RIM's Blackberry solution. And it is still considered the best at integration with corporate e-mail environments. But it has lost a lot of ground to the competitors and the limited supply of third-party apps. Android has gained tremendous popularity because it is available on a large number of different devices, from many carriers, and offers a healthy supply of third-party apps. There are concerns that Android is not a mature solution, and isn't as stable and secure as others—yet. Apple's iOS has a strong following due to the design of the devices and user interface, as well as the largest offering of third-party apps. However, this OS runs only on a limited number of Apple-manufactured devices, which are expensive compared to its competitors.
“Apps” (applications for the handhelds) are different from traditional applications running in your IT department for a couple of reasons:
•
They are either free or often priced under $10.
•
They are generally downloaded by the users themselves, not you or a member of your team. This is both good and bad news, of course; you don't have to worry about installing it, but you (probably) are still going to have to support it.
Handheld Hardware
Anything from a smart phone to a netbook and a tablet counts these days as a “handheld.” But aside from being very portable, their claim to fame is that they can perform multiple functions and connect to the Internet. Handheld devices are available from vendors like Apple, Blackberry, Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG, and HTC to name a few. New models are released every few months with different form factors, capabilities, and features. In the United States, devices from one carrier will not work with another carrier. And while you may be able to find a user manual online somewhere (there definitely won't be one in the box), it seems that most users just feel that they can figure it on their own.
Of course, any handheld device that includes phone functionality requires carrier service to operate. However, netbooks and tablets may only be equipped with Wi-Fi capabilities and can connect to a mobile service as an option, or with an air-card. Every device has a large number of accessories available from ear-phones to cases of every color, design, and material.
