By Gemma Simpson, 13 July 2007 15:38
Standard Life has increased productivity and improved its staff's work/life balance by embracing home and mobile working.
The company has dished out more than 900 laptops and a further 900 BlackBerrys to staff worldwide.
Billy Campbell, manager desktop services at Standard Life, told silicon.com: "Mobile working has enabled Standard Life to provide technology to staff to increase productivity by allowing them access to data which previously they could only receive in a fixed office environment."
Campbell said: "Mobile solutions, like the BlackBerry, provide business users with the ability to communicate with ease from whatever location they find themselves in, without needing to locate access points or negotiate security systems to access corporate email or data."
He added: "From a personal perspective, it has allowed a better work/life balance allowing me to do parts of my job from home rather than from the office."
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Campbell said Standard Life chose BlackBerrys because they offered ease of use and the ability to get data to management or executive staff securely, along with the capability to wipe any important information off a device if it is lost or stolen.
The company has several flexible working methods, such as working from home and hotdesking, where staff in certain areas have no fixed desk or desktop PC, as well as wireless connectivity through BlackBerrys and laptops.
Standard Life is planning to extend the capability of the BlackBerry service with extra software and peripherals being made available, in addition to the traditional email and personal information management data.
Campbell added: "Some users have already expressed an interest in giving up a laptop in favour of a BlackBerry with some of the new technologies we have shown them."
Recent research from RIM found an average BlackBerry user converts one hour of downtime to productive time each day and ups their overall team efficiency by 38 per cent.
Comments
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1. Richard Davies
I have trialled blackberries and don't see why people favour them.
I much prefer a smart phone such as the Palm Treo 750v which comes with Windows Mobile.
Now that Palm is easy to use and in my opinion provides better functionality and integration than a blackberry, especially if you utilise the activesync on the web etc.
Blackberries to me only had an advantage whilst they had the only device that used PUSH mail technology.
Other than that they have a rubbish interface (all poor text orientated menus etc.) and cannot create documents unless its basic text.
Also the blackberry uses proprietory technology...Why pay for expensive server based software to integrate with your mail system when a windows mobile device will do it at no extra cost. This in my eyes makes the blackberry an expensive proprietory option thats certainly not worth the money or the time!
In our trial of Smart Phones / Converged devices it was the Samsung i600 that came out the best overall with the Blackberry being sent back only 5 days into a 30 day trial.
2. Henry
Do not let this article kid you. The Blackberry devices have proven to be the work/life balance enemy. If any company proposes to give you one, just say no. Since receiving my Blackberry I have no days off anymore. One is now expected to respond to one's emails seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I do not know what anyone else believes but I do not call that work/life balance.
3. Jennifer
I agree, but you have to be the one that turns the button off.
4. John
Auto-power off at your preferred time and (I) have it powering back on again at 07:00 - although I expect there are some poor souls out there that are pretty much forced to keep in contact 24/7.
We rolled-out the BB very quickly and use them primarily for keeping a finger on the pulse. I don't expect they’re particularly designed for accessing/working on documents in any case - it's a case of the right tool for the specific job I suppose. As for the interface, I like it, along with strong rule based control from the server.
As for the cost, well, we managed very good deal for our Blackberrys! FOC handsets (8100), FOC BES software; FOC CALs and data traffic is free in the UK... can't argue with that.