By Naked CIO, 4 February 2008 12:09
COMMENT
What do staff really do at home with their company machines? Our embattled hero - newly appointed CIO at a largish firm - discovers there's a big difference between home workers and home usersÂ…
A purchase order for a PC lands on my desk. Nothing unusual there. The machine's for a senior manager in the organisation to use at home. But what catches my eye is the specification. This includes speakers, two DVD drives and a gaming graphics card. How on earth can we justify buying a machine like that?
Over the first few months of my new job I have been trying to sort out the whole home working issue. That single purchase order typifies the problems I've been facing.
Some managers at my new company seem to enjoy the historic privilege that goes with knowing the right people in the right places. But surely logic, standards and support should prevail when buying equipment?
An investigation of the home internet connections that we provide identified at least three individuals who had left the company but still had active ADSL connections that we were paying for.
I went ballistic when I found out about this - it shows a lack of management and attention to detail that wastes money. We've no one to blame but ourselves.
OK, so we have home workers - in these cases we should provide for all their business needs to allow them to work from home as they would in the office. But we also have home users - and this is where I have issues.
Why do we provide PCs and internet connectivity for staff who from time to time want to connect to the office from home? That should be their responsibility.
I am now conducting a full assault on our home working policy to minimise the management, overhead and responsibility we take for these people.
Of course it's never as simple as that - it becomes a political issue. Certain home working practices have been in place for a long time - long before I arrived. So I realise there are those on the board who will interpret any changes in this area as a personal attack.
This means for a sensible and best practice policy to prevail I must stealthily construct an iron-clad case to reclaim company-owned PCs from these home users and also get them to take responsibility for their own internet connections. Sounds simple doesn't it?
For the first time in my life I respect the Working Time Regulations - if only people just worked the hours they were supposed to I wouldn't have this problem. But presently I feel like PC World and that is not the function of IT.
On top of that, once a company PC is in the home we in IT then have to support it, which often means going to a manager's home when a system is not working. Even my doctor doesn't do house calls, so why should my department?
I shall win the policy battle and make home PC usage conform, not only to best practice ideals, but to commonsense basics. At what cost though?
The alienation of those who have benefited from this privilege over the years will undoubtedly lead to resentment and another battle along the road, which is fought not for the sake of the company but to score points against the new guy.
Because of the politics I must remind my team to be squeaky-clean during this period because others will be on the lookout for double standards - as always.
I remember now why I have always enjoyed dealing with computers more than with people. Computers are not petty in the face of reason. They do not sulk and seek revenge when embarrassed and they do not manoeuvre to score points over their team mates - after all, aren't we all on the same side?
If we're in the business of scoring points, perhaps in a month I should do a spot-check at the home of the senior manager who requested the gaming PC and find out what he's really using it for.
I am absolutely certain that this visit alone would provide me with all the evidence I need to put my policies in place.
I suppose the vindictive behaviour of others rubs off now and again, doesn't it?
Comments
There are 24 comments. Join the discussion
1. David Caddick
while I agree with almost everything in this report I do have a problem with "Why do we provide PCs and internet connectivity for staff who from time to time want to connect to the office from home? That should be their responsibility."
If the User is performing Company Business in their own time at home the company should be responsable. Maybe create a CITRIX Farm and let the users connect on their own PC using a company URL and obtain their Desktop
2. John Hampshire
Perhaps a little more time working with people rather than machines will enable you to chill out a little.
As you say, IT practices are never applied in a vacuum (if you like, "politics" are always part of the equation), so take a step back, inform your senior managers about the issues that you think need addressing and resist the urge to become another petit fonctionnaire -- or, as someone of note once said, a "straightener and punisher".
The issue of home computers may irk you, but many people get such perks effectively as part of their packages in the full knowledge that perhaps the machine is configured for a bit more than just simple work-related stuff.
And, unless you are talking about a very small business, what's the the true cost to the company of that broadband connection? Very little in real terms.
Unless you have a valid problem in terms of IT loads from home machines compromising work functions, then take it from me that this is an area where you should tread lightly!
3. Ralph Beales
On the face of it, he seems to be talking a lot of sense. Of course, if his company - from whom he doubtless enoys generous share options and bonuses - is happy to stop home-based workers and pay for office space, parking space, power for these offices, a works-cafeteria (restaurants have waiting staff) and all the panopoly of costs that actually running a building entail, he'll be able to save 50 quid on a PC.
Get a grip man! You could buy a standard PC for the home-worker, of course, that means that the home-worker will now need two computers at home, ah, space for computers? Two monitors? Two key-boards? Tell you what, I'll come into the office instead. What, it costs £20,000 p.a. per worker, just provide office space?
What, my home-based workers, who formerly worked from 0700 - 2200, with a 10 minute stop for lunch and an hour for supper, are now working 9-5 with a whole hour for lunch! Crikey, better double the workforce.
How did such a petty, small-minded beaurocrat such as you, rise to suc an exalted position?
4. Lionel A Smith
Ralph Beales
Quite. I could not have put it better myself.
If home-working is so important then, going by my experience, the company should also provide the UPS necessary to prevent those dreadful one to two second power drops which are frequent occurrences here, that can not only interrupt work but cause havoc with hard drives.
5. Rory Choudhuri
Totally agree with Ralph Beales. The narrow-minded view expressed by your CIO columnist is all too familiar. Our local IT Director decreed that no company machines could have iTunes on them. And this at a company where our marketing department put out educational and other podcasts that are only viewable if you have iTunes!
Just one of many, many examples, but it's indicative of the attitude. Treat people like idiots/children/criminals and they'll respond as such.
The IT department has to remember that it is an enabler as much as, if not more than, it is a policeman.
6. richard wallwork
I think you may be missing something. Do you want to force people to have two PC's - one for home and one for work? What about work/life balance issues? What about the frustration of doing something on the home machine, getting a work related phone call and not being able to respond effectively because all the information is on the other machine?
7. Simon
Did either of the first two posters actually read the article, because it sure doesn't sound like it !
The CIO in question was very specific in separating "home workers" for which all the facilities are justified, and "home users" who work in the office and merely want the 'convenience' of working from home occasionally.
The example he gives, of someone asking for a 'high spec gaming machine" does not fit in with the requirements to support home workers - it's typical of people (usually senior managers) who see the excuse of working from home occasionally as an opportunity to have the company provide them with a computer for their own use.
I've seen this first hand in a smallish business. The bosses want all sorts of 'toys' for home, usually different to what we already support, and then expect us to support it fully - including as the article points out, home visits.
The tricky bit is finding the line between genuine home use, and 'executive perks' !
8. anonymous
Bean counters never were too good at pondering the imponderables. Like the Finance Director who thought we should all be chuffed at getting a 1k pa rise while office parking had become 'pay-as-you-go'.. When will directors stop thinking of staff as idiots who cannot factor in the various benefits that come with their job when calculating the overall desirability of that job - and whether or not they might go elswhere. In the end, after my company cut an MCSE training cluster, a games room, free coffee and parking, I went elsewhere, despite a higher salary.
9. Simon Allen
The CIO speaks great sense and I applaud the planned clarification of PC usage.
But he won't succeed!!
The vested interests of those gaining perks for little effort will triumph. It does not matter whether they are planning a biz trip to NYC and then take two weeks leave so that their flight is free, or getting a snazzy PC for their children that they could easily afford themselves - gaining points and personal advantage is all that matters.
I recall in 1983 having to order a simple telephone answering machine for the Chairman. Bear in mind that, in those days for reasons I shall go into, a good machine cost £300.
I had to take a taxi to install it in the home of the chairman and set it all up for him. Could he have purchased a machine for himself, for his own home, for his domestic line? I think he could.
Morale? Profits? A free PC, that's an easy choice.
10. Karen Challinor
as Mr Choudhuri has said the IT department needs to be an enabler, trying to retroactively apply a security policy that will put this genie back in the bottle will stir up so much political crap that you had best start wearing a kevlar vest
now I agree supplying ADSL lines to staff who have left is an oversight that should not have happened, so why did it happen ? - identify the problem and deal with it don't try and change company policy because you don't like it
so ok people have company pc's at home, you have to support and pay for them, home support costs your department more, so to provide this you may need a bigger budget, you have an excellent argument for an increase but you need the numbers
people want to use web 2.0 style applications for collaboration on projects ?, you have to make sure this is secure without losing any of the benefits, this needs paying for so you need to provide accurate costings quickly, this is not a problem it just needs organising and funding
if there is a problem with something people want then they don't want to hear the problem they want to hear the solution, you need to explain it in terms they understand, and most people at the same level as a CIO understand budgets, time and manpower, so explain in those terms
if someone springs a new and unexpected request on you then realistically they can't expect an answer immediately, so find the problems, work out the solutions and costs and get back to them armed with those figures and you'll get a lot further than you will by stamping your foot and saying "no" otherwise you'll be writing this column as an "ex" CIO
11. Austin Holdsworth
Would you call on the accounts department to sort out your personal TAX returns or bully someone in facilities management to take a look your leaky plumbing over the weekend, when it more convenient for you? Or course not. So it should not be acceptable to expect your IT department to take time out their own social calendar to rebuild your "home" PC either.
If the PC is critical to your working life, you need to take responsibility to make sure that it is in good working order and not exposed to risk of failure. The continued downloading and installing of unsupported games software (which your IT department may not have any fore-knowledge of) will ultimately lead to performance problems or total failure. Any time-served IT professional will tell you this is true.
Clearly our CIO's company has experienced recent growth and old habits of home visits are no longer practical for IT staff. That’s completely understandable. Why should the CIO’s staff be bogged down with avoidable problems?
My advice to the CIO is to replace home workers "PCs" with laptops and offer the Service Level Agreements across the board to both home and office workers. If a home workers laptop fails, it gets returned to the office and repaired or replaced.
The bureaucracy of a company IT policy statement is absolutely necessary. It's not about authoritarian narrow-mindedness; it’s about using common sense to establish what are beyond the scope of the IT support department’s responsibilities to you. IT support staff won’t be motivated into fixing your self-inflicted PC problem because you installed unsupported software. It shows a lack of respect for what your CIO and IT support staff really want to do, which is work out ways of making the whole organisation more productive, efficient and ultimately successful.
12. Ben Kennedy
Yes, he/she did try to put some seperating in but as you read that article it becomes clear he really is not making a distiction at all between the two.
I agree that perks should be stopped, but he has given no real alternative and is just providing a whine. Nor has he even acknowledged any implications around control of home machines.
Why he/she allows his/her IT workers to go to someones home is just crazy. Why he/she allows out of spec machines to connect to his/her company's network, is nuts.
He/She has not talked about other things, like it may be part of the employees renumeration package and if it is not, why is he/she even allowing this to occur. This is not his/her money its the companies and this is a governance issue.
So hold your horses in backing this one saying no one is reading this one. They may not be articulating a step by step rebuff, but the points are there.
13. Ben Kennedy
Yes, I can see you point here.
There is however as clear governance issue here. If the chairman says do it, then you will. They will have to sign it off as well as the cost in time. This will still have to go through accounting and be documented.
14. Ralph Beales
@Simon&Austin
I thought I was actually the first poster, as there were no comments when I first posted.
So, just in case, I did indeed read it all but I also took a much wider view, one that encompasses the fact that it's far more cost effective for a business to have people work from home, than provide office space.
This is of no small inconvenience to the other people in the home (I'm currently telling a 7 y.o and a 10 y.o boy to 'be quiet') but there needs are over-ridden in the quest for business nirvana.
I require a fully-enabled, multi-media PC, to enable me to hold audio/visual conferences with my colleagues and customers -thus saving a fortune on travel costs - so, do you deny me a PC to do this?
In fact, the article doesn't really apply to me, as my employer supplies it's workforce (100,000+) with a standard laptop, capable of doing all those good things above. I most certainly expect them to maintain it though. What got my goat, was the narrow-minded view, of someone who wants to cut costs, so his end of year bonus and share options will be realised, bacuase he has met his target for the year. Oh, he will likely have his tax return completed by his Accounts dept. too.
Toodle-pip
PostScript, I mis-spelt 'bureaucracy' above.
15. anonymous
Home users vs home workers a suble difference indeed. Lets be real people.
I'm a home worker and I get 60.00 dollars US a month to maintain a business phone and DSL service lights, heating parking. I am avaialble more hours than I would if I were to have to commute to an office, I do most of my own tech support except that which is forced upon me by MY IT dept and which I end up having to fix . I don't use or load any software on my business PC and maintain my own personal PC for my playtime as I don't expect my company to supply my "bad habits"-Besides I wouldn't use their less than stellar equipment for what I want to do on PC.
16. Ian Savell
Laptops are the answer. Give people who want the convenience of working from home out of hours a properly configured and secured laptop for the purpose. I supply my own kit and wouldn't use the family PC for that purpose - its too unreliable and risky. Laptops can be fixed back in the office if they go wrong, or updated to latest software build periodically. In fact you should insist on that.
If the senior staff expect home PCs as a perk or part of their remuneration package (it can be extremely tax efficient) then let them have them, to their own specification (with a cost target) but don't let them use them for work.
Storing a laptop is a pretty trivial cost to the user for the convenience of working at home, and from a business perspective a typical manager only has to work around 10 additional hours (presumably unpaid) to earn the cost of the machine.
Also, make sure the office VPN only accepts authenticate connections so they CAN'T use their home PC (on which the kids have loaded Limewire and all the latest trojans) for work.
17. Charles Smith
Ah well, as the story goes: "prepare three envelopes and leave them in your desk ready for your successor.."
The point should be to give your users what they want, but be prepared to charge fully, fairly and transparently for the real costs. It is then a business decision as to what the people have at home, not the IT Department. The CIO's role is to ensure that the PC's are correctly configured with antivirus, security etc, so that they do not damage the business.
18. Arbothnot Buggle
As a shareholder I certainly do not want to hear that the staff in the company I own a part of are using office equipment for thier own use. the security implications of some senior managers spotty youth son using the PC for gaming fills me with dread that the companies security could be compromised. Likewise if the company has a fleet of vans full of equipment I would not expect to see them being used on family camping trips.
19. Nicky Bearsted
This article shows why IT managers have problems progressing into more senior positions. Following the logic of the article, no company would provide any but the basic car, phone, executive seating, desk, etc. What PC is provided and what support is offered should be a matter of personnel policy, with recognised and agreed costs.
Many people work at least part time from home at all hours, which greatly benefits their employer, particularly if international time zones are involved. IT's job is to support the company and its employees in carrying out their job, not to take moral views. Many people only have space for one computer, which has to be usable by other members of the household for whatever reason.
I understand the frustration of trying to support a home PC, particularly if the reason for failure is imprudent browsing or the presence of too many games. Equally, IT has to acknowledge that out of hours working is important to the company, and a controlled degree of flexibility is essential.
20. Austin Holdsworth
On contemplating the proposed “Give them what they want” IT Policy I wondered if a company needs a CIO at all? Why not just do away with the obstruction altogether. Nothing can stop us getting the all-powerful multi-purpose home/work PC at home that we really want now?
After all, the CIO would now only a secondary responsibility to ensuring the 24/7 availability of an IT infrastructure. In many cases, the thing that keeps the “business” in business. Shareholders don’t care about IT anyway.
Then I remembered that there would be no one to blame when the business was “offline” for a week because of the Trojan that managed to get past the firewall via the VPN connection from an infected home PC which was used the previous night by an adventurous late night web surfer dude.
So there! We do need a CIO!
:)
21. Austin Holdsworth
On contemplating the proposed “Give them what they want” IT Policy I wondered if a company needs a CIO at all? Why not just do away with the obstruction altogether. Nothing can stop us getting the all-powerful multi-purpose home/work PC at home that we really want now?
After all, the CIO would now only a secondary responsibility to ensuring the 24/7 availability of an IT infrastructure. In many cases, the thing that keeps the “business” in business. Shareholders don’t care about IT anyway.
Then I remembered that there would be no one to blame when the business was “offline” for a week because of the Trojan that managed to get past the firewall via the VPN connection from an infected home PC which was used the previous night by an adventurous late night web surfer dude.
So there! We do need a CIO!
:)
22. anonymous
If you really want to change things that you feel unjust or leave the company exposed then I've always found it best to phase things. After all how long do you right off PCs in your company, 3 years?
I hate to use techonlogy to solve this problem but Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is probably the way to go to allow you to seperate out business and home use. The next generation of home based PCs can be paid for by the employees an to their standards. Provide them with a USB memory stick with their company PC environment on it and your done. Of course you may want to think about subsidising your lower paid employees up to the cost for an OK home PC. But not your directors taste in gaming or hi end sound systems. As for Internet connectivity in this day and age most people should be happy to source theie own. Let what is there today die on the vine.
Besides you are going to need to summon up all your strength and patience as you start to see the next generation of Smartphones become the new battle ground.
23. Karen Challinor
just a thought
we haven't missed the point of this column have we ?
you are serious about your comments ?
you aren't attempting some CIO based rip off of "The Bastard Operator From Hell" ( http://www.theregister.co.uk/odds/bofh/ ) are you ?
because if you were then it wasn't very funny either
24. anonymous
Some of the comments have hit the problem our naked CIO has ignored - he makes no allowance for the extra productivity the business gets for home users.
Fair enough, the connectivity for home users is going too far but if the business wants the staff to be able to occasionally work from home they should have laptops to do so - they can use these in both environments.
It may seem harsh but the business can pay me for my time in work or I'll do unpaid extra work on their kit at home - simple choice. (My family would rather it be the latter anyway.)
In the current recruitment piece the Naked CIO states: "There is no longer any sense of loyalty for the job - the focus is on money and salary".
This attitude is apparently fine in getting staff to use their own equipment to perform unpaid work from outside the office!