IT Manager's Handbook: Getting Your New Job Done (73 page)

What Is “Focused” and What Is “Distracted”?

First, a word on what these offerings are
not
: excuses for you to become the Attention Police. While there are all kinds of reasons why an employee should or should not be Twittering at work, your workplace may or may not be an organization that cares. If there are employees who seem to be spending far too much time online on activities unrelated to work, it is important to remember that this is primarily an HR issue, not an IT issue (although IT may be involved). These situations are similar to those where an employee is spending too much time on personal phone calls. Most workplaces today care about results, not style. There are CEOs that Twitter (twitter.com/zappos); Mark Cuban Twitters (and if billionaires Twitter, who are we to say it is not corporate?). As a Forbes.com article says, “[this] is no longer just for teenagers” (
www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/social-networking-executives-leadership-managing-facebook.html
).

These technologies are being embraced because they generally allow people to be more productive—do more, do it quicker, do it from anywhere, and do more than one thing at a time. They help the work–life balance by allowing working parents to stay in touch with their children and to know that they can be reached immediately if there is a problem. They enable employees to work at nontraditional hours and at nontraditional locations as they choose to, or need to.

However, these same technologies can distract people from the work they are supposed to be doing or using these technologies in less than honest ways (such as the employee who arranges for an e-mail to be sent to his boss at 1  AM so that it looks like the employee is working tirelessly).

Also, while your workers are using these tools for their work–life balance, corporations are embracing these tools for the benefit of their customers and clients. Companies are creating pages and groups on all the networking sites (such as Facebook.com and LinkedIn.com), as well as sending out news via Twitter.com. All of this helps with marketing and branding, keeps customers informed, creates a sense of community, and helps develop and maintain strong relationships. It is certainly a sign of the reach, power, and maturity of these technologies. Politicians have embraced them not only for campaigns, but also as worthwhile tools while serving in office. Even the White House has its own channel on YouTube.

Users Check Mobile E-mail Frequently

Our research found that 47% of mobile device users check their mobile e-mail more than 10 times per day while at work, while 10% check mobile e-mail more than 40 times each day when at work. After hours during the evening, 37% of mobile users check their mobile e-mail more than 10 times each day. Even on the weekend, 47% of mobile users check their mobile e-mail more than 10 times per day.

The Osterman Research, Inc.

Black Diamond, Washington

extranet.neverfailgroup.com/download/OR%20Executive%20Summary%20-%20Mobile%20Messaging%20Market%20Trends%202008-2011%20v2.pdf

And, remember this is not an IT-only issue. All the tools for social networking and mobility are just that—tools. IT shouldn't be the determining factor in what tools are used, how they are used, and what they are used for.

11.4 Further References

Websites

extranet.neverfailgroup.com/get/?fileID=17ff8c®=0&ws=1
. [mobile messaging market trends].

www.attensity.com
. [social media monitoring tool].

www.ecommercetimes.com
. [e-commerce news].

www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
.

www.forbes.com/2009/03/11/social-networking-executives-leadership-managing-facebook.html
. [social networking at the executive levels].

www.good.com
. [mobile device management tool vendor].

www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/video.html
.

www.kluster.com
. [crowd-sourcing tool].

www.mobileiron.com
. [mobile device management tool vendor].

www.pcadvisor.co.uk/news/index.cfm?newsid=114088
. [gone, but not forgotten technologies].

www.radian6.com
. [social media monitoring tool].

www.socialmention.com
. [social media monitoring tool].

www.yammer.com
. [micro-blogging tool for internal use].

Books and Articles

Bell A, (2009).
Exploring Web 2.0: Second Generation Interactive Tools—Blogs, Podcasts, Wikis, Networking, Virtual Words, and More
. CreateSpace.

Blanchard O, (2011).
Social Media ROI: Managing and Measuring Social Media, Efforts in Your Organization
. Que.

Carne EB, (2011).
Connections for the Digital Age: Multimedia Communications for Mobile Nomadic and Fixed Devices
. Wiley.

Custy J, (2011). Unplanned Obsolescenc.
Information Week
. [August 15].

Faeth F, Busateri J, (2009). Web 2.0 Building Blocks.
Baseline Magazine
. [March].

Finneran M, (2011). A New Approach for Mobile.
Information Week
. [August 15].

Fried S, (2010).
Mobile Device Security: A Comprehensive Guide to Securing Your Information in a Moving World
. Auerbach Publications.

Healey M, (2011). The OS Mess.
Information Week
. [July 11].

Janer M, (2009). The Web 2.0 Balancing Act.
Information Week
. [February 16].

Johnson M, (2011).
Mobile Device Management: What you Need to Know For IT Operations Management
. Emereo Pty Ltd.

Kang S, (2011).
Business Intelligence Moves to Mobile Devices
. Baseline Magazine [July/August].

Kerpen D, (2011).
Likeable Social Media: How to Delight Your Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (& Other Social Networks)
. McGraw-Hill.

Klososky S, (2011).
Enterprise Social Technology: Helping Organizations Harness the Power of Social Media, Social Networking Social Relevance
. Greenleaf Book Group Press.

Li C, Bernoff J, (2009).
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
. Harvard Business School.

Sankar K, Bouchard SA, (2009).
Enterprise Web 2.0 Fundamentals
. Cisco Press.

Shah R, (2011).
Social Networking for Business: Choosing the Right Tools and Resources to Fit Your Needs
. Pearson Prentice Hall.

Silver D, (2009).
The Social Network Business Plan: 18 Strategies That Will Create Great Wealth
. Wiley.

Stackpole B, (2011). Managing the Tablet Wave.
Computerworld
. [June 6].

Stackpole B, (2011). The Mobile App Gold Rush.
Computerworld
. [August 22].

Surowiecki J, (2005).
The Wisdom of Crowds
. Anchor.

Glossary

0-9

360 Reviews:
a performance review in which employees receive feedback from not only their direct supervisor, but from other individuals as well, including peers and subordinates.

A

ACD (Automatic Call Distribution):
a telephony solution that can route calls to technicians based on menu prompts and can provide detailed reports about activity.

Adware:
software that installs itself on a workstation for the purpose of displaying ads to the user. Adware is generally unwanted and often installed without the knowledge of the user. It is considered to be malware.

AES:
a data encryption standard.

Agile Development:
a method of software development that stresses quick development cycles; it is seen as an alternative to the “waterfall” method.

Agile Meetings:
daily meetings, often called “stand-ups” or “scrums.” The idea is to radically increase communication but in much briefer formats; they are called “stand-ups” because people tend to ramble less when they have to stand up the entire meeting.

Annual Licensing:
a software licensing model that requires the license to be renewed periodically, typically on an annual basis.

Asset management:
processes and techniques employed to minimize TCO (total cost of ownership).

Automatic Call Distribution (ACD):
a telephony solution that can route calls to technicians based on menu prompts and can provide detailed reports about activity.

B

B2B:
Business-to-Business e-commerce marketing direction.

B2C:
Business-to-Customer e-commerce marketing direction.

Backdoor Trojans:
Trojan horse programs that allow a hacker to control your computer remotely.

Basel II:
international agreement that sets out the details for adopting more risk-sensitive minimum capital requirements for banking organizations.

BCP (Business Continuity Planning):
a methodology used to create a plan for how an organization will resume partially or completely interrupted critical function(s) within a predetermined time after a disaster or disruption. BCP differentiates from disaster recovery in that DR is associated primarily with resources and facilities, while BCP is associated primarily with processes.

Benevolent dictator:
an individual with final say, who is not elected to their position, yet acts in a manner that benefits the group as a whole.

Black List:
a list of e-mail originators (e-mail and IP addresses) whose messages should always be considered spam.

Black-hat hackers:
hackers interested in discovering security flaws in order to take advantage and abuse them—usually for profit, but oftentimes just to see what trouble they can cause.

Bring Your Own (BYO) Policy:
policy associated with mobile devices that allows employees to use their own devices for work.

Business Applications:
software packages that allow the users and the business to do their job(s). Examples include the inventory system, the payroll application, or a simple application that allows administrative assistants to print mailing labels.

Business Continuity Planning (BCP):
a methodology used to create a plan for how an organization will resume partially or completely interrupted critical function(s) within a predetermined time after a disaster or disruption. BCP differentiates from disaster recovery in that DR is primarily associated with resources and facilities, while BCP is associated primarily with processes.

BYO (Bring Your Own) Policy:
policy associated with mobile devices that allows employees to use their own devices for work.

C

Call tracking:
a software application designed specifically for managing large volumes of calls at call centers and help desks.

Capital expenditure:
an expense category for an item that will have a useful life of several years, such as a piece of hardware.

Capital lease:
an equipment lease where ownership of the equipment passes to the lessee at the end of the term.

CBT:
Computer-Based Training; software-based (stand-alone or on the Web) education that trains the user in a particular product set.

CERT:
research and development center at Carnegie Mellon University (funded U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security) that coordinates communication among security information experts.

Change Request (CR):
change management notification for a change in current process/environment.

Chargeback:
the process for charging individual departments for various IT resources (hardware, software, staffing, etc.).