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Revolutionizing the way we work

Ideas and inspiration for a sustainable collaboration concept

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Trends such as artificial intelligence, augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) and 5G have a direct influence on what workers will be doing at their workplaces in the future. But the workers themselves are changing as well; they are familiar with and use a wide range of collaboration tools beyond standard Office systems. Work stations are becoming more complex and tailored to the individual. As such, companies need solid collaboration concepts that set the course for designing and managing future work stations. The concepts must enable easy, flexible working, fulfil compliance requirements, and of course also keep workplace costs under control. This paper details the things companies need to bear in mind in order to achieve these goals.

Companies need new collaboration concepts

VUCA1 aptly describes not only an entire generation’s attitude towards life, but also the current economic environment. VUCA stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. The acronym denotes a situation that is largely unclear, but which also presents a wide range of options.

We live in an incredibly dynamic age—a whirlwind of sorts. An era that challenges and often dismantles that which is long established. Companies need to be more flexible than ever and counter this sense of uncertainty with agile concepts. This also has a direct impact on workplaces, where there are two specific parameters that influence the (blurry) developments: digitization and a new generation of employees with different requirements and skills.

Digitization is seeing systems, devices and ‘things’ increasingly being equipped with artificial intelligence. As such, machines and IT systems will automate/take charge of standard processes and unburden employees, or in some cases even render humans obsolete. At the same time, a new generation of ‘digital natives’ is entering the working world. This new generation of workers has grown up with IT and the Internet. They work globally and are ‘always on’. Social collaboration is part of their life. And they similarly carry this expectation over into their working life.

In this context, digital collaboration will neither remain a human domain, nor be restricted solely to white-collar workers. Collaboration will become an all-encompassing condition for business success—and extend well beyond just email, data storage and sharing, and office communication.

Companies are thus creating new and varied working environments—driven by process-related innovations, the requirements of humans and machines, and the options provided by new devices (such as AR/VR head-sets or user-recognition systems). The workplace of the future has many facets. But just because something is possible, doesn’t mean it is allowed. Legal framework conditions put paid to many an innovative idea.

Chatbots are already automatically performing standard processes at companies: Health insurance customers receive compensation for lost cards, licenses for work-station systems are supplied and assigned automatically etc. Cameras with corresponding AI in the background are able to automatically recognize staff and dynamically allocate/reserve work stations according to specific user preferences. Over the next few years, 5G will also facilitate interactive virtual whiteboards which designers, with the aid of AR/VR devices, can use to carry out collaborative projects.

Companies therefore need collaboration concepts which will position them sustainably and make them attractive to new staff. These concepts must provide the flexibility required by a multi-generational workforce. But companies can’t stagnate when it comes to flexibility. They need to meet compliance requirements in relation to aspects such as data protection. IT security will always be a key issue—especially in times of increa-sing cybercrime activity. Among other things, companies need to think about how they plan to keep workplace costs under control.

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Tech trends at work

5G

IOT

AI

Cloud

VR

Flexible concepts for collaboration wanted

Success factors collaboration:

flexibilitysecurity/ compliance,cost

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From office monoculture to collaboration jungle

For decades, Microsoft’s Office services, combined with Windows as the operating system, were the undisputed standard for collaboration. Today, more and more companies are questioning the Office package. But collabora-tion is more than just email, PowerPoint, Excel and Word. It also includes web and video conferences, and of course existing channels such as telephony, SMS and fax offered by all kinds of providers. Services like Slack, Zoom, Workplace by Facebook, Zoho, G Suite and WebEx have millions of users, and have thereby established themselves as functional additions or alternatives to the classic Office suite. They compete with modern Microsoft collaboration add-ons such as Teams, SharePoint/OneDrive and Skype.

It’s the companies that choose. Or, more accurately: it’s their users who choose. This is because specific user groups within companies are increasingly requiring specific tools to optimize their work. Software developers, for example, frequently turn to Jira, agencies to Sprout Social, and designers to the Adobe suite. These services perfectly cater to their needs. And their easy availability via the Internet means they are gaining a strong foothold in companies’ collaboration landscapes. It is worth remembering, however, that the current status quo in collaboration landscapes is but a stock-taking moment on the path towards the future.

In March 2018, Airbus2 decided to replace Office and introduce Google’s G Suite for its 130,000 staff instead. The aerospace corporation promised the switch would enable better collaboration across various business units (‘break down the silos’). Airbus saw G Suite, with its integrated Google Search, as a tool for establishing a new work culture, and one which would increase the capability for collaboration across multiple time zones.

Achieving a perfect-fit collaboration landscape for a company with many different stakeholders is a challenge that cannot always be mapped using standard solution suites—even though these appear to be the most prag-matic way of taking control over the complexities resulting from additional management expense and security requirements. Collaboration solutions extend well beyond standard suites for Office applications from the public cloud. They also need secure solutions for storing data from private clouds as well as solutions for hybrid scenarios. One common example is that of Citrix environments, which can be self-managed by the user com-pany both on Azure and in private clouds.

Comprehensive standard suites are not always the right solutionIntroducing comprehensive standard suites is a common way of meeting the multiple requirements of different user groups. It is where end-user perspectives and IT-management perspectives meet at the lowest common denominator. Self-service is possible, overall management and reporting stay affordable. The fact that this approach means buying ‘weaker’ solutions for certain requirements, or that the requirements of some user groups remain unfulfilled, can be considered to be minor weaknesses. The cost aspect, however, is more significant, because the additional services need to be paid for each user—regardless of whether or not they will actually be used. Despite cloud-provisioning models, the bottom line is that costs increase. It is also worth remembering that systems for data security/backup and fail-safe operation also need to be provided in business environments.

MSOffice

Does a standard suite match the requirements?

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Approaches for optimizing licensing costs

Analyses show that it is possible to provide tailor-made services and corresponding licenses for specific user groups by evaluating their usage behavior. Classifying users into about six groups provides transparency and lays the foundations for clear cost savings. But selected services require greater administration or reporting expense. They can often simply be taken care of by an experienced provider.

An industry worker generally only has very limited needs for collaboration tools, whereas mobile users have more advanced requirements compared to standard users. It may also be worthwhile looking at users in specific countries to save licensing costs. Hybrid environments are a third component necessitating a more complex approach. These exist at most companies. A public-cloud-only approach is unrealistic.

Many service providers offer ‘software asset management’ services, which can serve to analyze actual user behavior. This gives corporate users a valid basis for determining the actual licensing need.

Working with a service provider can also mean more flexible licensing costs. Pro-rata license offsetting (‘as you use’) is especially feasible during the first year—instead of having the commonly incurred licensing costs for a whole year.

Another way of drastically reducing licensing costs is to purchase used licenses from specialized rights dealers. In 2012, the European Court of Justice deemed it legal to resell software licenses3. Experience has shown that, in some cases, used licenses can mean a cost saving of up to 70 percent.

Saving costs through used licensesCustomers without licenses or client-access licenses can profitably employ used licenses. This is not possible with a public cloud, hence Exchange either needs to be run in-house or procured through a service provider. As the licensing costs for used licenses are much lower than those for original licenses, this approach generally results in a cost saving of 30 to 50 percent.

Consider used software licenses

ANALYSES OF USER BEHAVIOR

CATEGORIZATION

SUITABLE SERVICE PACKAGES

COST OPTIMIZATION

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Keeping track of security and compliance

In addition to costs, security considerations also play a key role when developing suitable collaboration con-cepts. Most tools are traditionally provided on premises—from in-house data centres or through a service provi-der. The cloud as a sourcing alternative has changed this. Today, many services are available, particularly new collaboration services from the public cloud. Many providers offer free basic versions (with limited functionality). In the case of Office 365, for example, users only have access to the basic service if they are online; files can-not be edited locally. But this free version may fully suffice for some work situations. Nevertheless, an internet connection is required for online use, and this may generate additional costs.

Airlines, finance companies or authorities operating in regulated ‘business fields’ generally have higher com-pliance and/or security requirements. Storing personal or financial data in a public cloud managed from an unsecured third country is not acceptable for supervisory authorities4. A private cloud is a good alternative in such cases. A private cloud enables corporations to set up extensive security mechanisms—and save money compared to an on-premises operation. When user numbers are between 500 and 15,000, private clouds are indeed cheaper sourcing models than the public cloud. The choice of sourcing model therefore not only impacts security or permission to use the collaboration applications; it also has an effect on cost.

Cost saving through private cloud hostingIn the public cloud, companies rely on standardized enterprise agreements such as E5 or E3, which do not meet staff members’ real needs. When using a private cloud, the license structure can be adapted to the company’s real needs (personalization), and the product portfolio can be flexibly amended. The private cloud releases companies from the need to buy large bundles that are not fully utilized. Having the right license setup achieves significant cost advantages, the percentages of which reach double digits.

Hybrid is unavoidable

Most large companies that analyze their situation in detail will come to the conclusion that a suitable mix of different sourcings perfectly meets their needs in terms of security, flexibility and cost. A hybrid approach will thus be a strategic decision for them.

But even companies following a public-cloud-only approach will end up having hybrid scenarios, because user management is controlled in-house through an Active Directory which needs to be synchronized with the Active Directory in the (public) cloud service provider’s data center. Furthermore, Exchange cannot be used without a separate (in-house) installation, which is connected to the local Active Directory.

The two aforementioned factors consider the emergence of hybrid scenarios with regard to one service. The modern approach of using different collaboration tools from various providers is a third factor pointing towards hybridity.

Moving to a hybrid cloud is therefore virtually unavoidable for companies wanting to use public-cloud resources. In other words: The future of collaboration is hybrid.

Public Cloud as an alternative?

Ensure compliance for regulated industries

Savings through Private Cloud

Professional user manage-ment needsHybrid Cloud

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Developing sustainable collaboration concepts

A future-oriented collaboration concept needs three main cornerstones:

1. It must initially give a company a high degree of flexibility—in terms of the services the users actually need, and in terms of the types of sourcing the company wishes to use. A further component of flexibility is the exchangeability of collaboration tools so as to be able to respond to user needs and market opportunities.

2. Both decisions—for the collaboration tools and the sourcing options—must meet the company-wide requirements for security and compliance. It is of course also important to fulfil statutory requirements and avoid the risk of legal breaches.

3. Last but not least, the cost aspect must also be taken into account when setting up the future workplace landscape.

All three elements—flexibility, security/compliance and cost—deserve equal and careful consideration.

Two additional requirements: Integration and add-onsThere are two additional elements that need to be borne in mind when developing a concept like this for providing collaboration services: How are shortcomings in existing services balanced out and how does integration work?

1. There are two aspects to consider when it comes to integration. On the one hand, integrating the indivi-dual services with one another, and on the other, integrating them with existing pre-systems such as SAP and ServiceNow, which can be used to manage business processes. The aim must be to run and manage the collaboration services flawlessly. It should be possible to administrate the flexible and dynamic land-scape without any major additional expenses.

2. Typical shortcomings associated with standard suites include a lack of, or weak, encryption functions, as well as limited capacities for mass communication, given that this is automatically initiated by transaction systems. Companies using legacy functions such as fax, SMS or telephony should also make sure these services remain available in the future collaboration landscape as integrated services, provided that they are relevant to business5. Fax services, for example, are still used in a surprisingly large number of industries as a way of concluding legally compliant agreements (medication orders, job orders for trades-people, service requests, securities transactions etc.), but also in order to circulate information quickly (within branch/outlet structures, such as in the case of retail chains).

Integrated collaboration for user experience

Reflectspecial requirements

€

Basis ofcollaboration

Cost Flexibility

Security & compliance

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YOUR CONTACTMarten BütowE-Mail: collaboration365@t-systems.com

www.t-systems.de

EDITORT-Systems International GmbHHahnstr. 43d60528 Frankfurt am MainGermany

[1] VUCA, Definition, Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon, Prof. Oliver Bendel, 2019 (German only)[2] Airbus ditches Microsoft, flies off to Google, Paul Kunert, theregister.co.uk, March 2018[3] Wegweisendes Urteil zu gebrauchten Software-Lizenzen, Zeit online, July 2012 (German only)

[4] Datenschutzbeauftragter: Schulen sollen Office 365 nicht verwenden, windowsarea.de, July 2019 (German only)[5] Why Business Are Still Sending Faxes in 2018, Naoimi Young, July 2018

Conclusion

Future-oriented collaboration concepts skilfully combine the old and new worlds of collaboration in order to facilitate all functions required in business. The most obvious approach to creating a collaboration concept for the (various) work stations of the future is to rely on an ecosystem of different providers and integrators. It is important to ensure that established standard services (possibly from various providers) and special services for customized requirements are available and can be combined. The ecosystem should also offer add-on solutions for specific optimizations in standard and individual services.

Companies can set up these ecosystems themselves, or work with a service provider that has the relevant eco-systems and integration skills. This makes it possible to develop complete, provider-independent, customized collaboration landscapes.

Key points for establishing a sustainable collaboration concept

What collaboration functions do your staff need?

Are you familiar with your users’ usage habits?

Have you defined your sourcing mix to optimize agility, security and compliance?

How do you achieve maximum flexibility for your users’ various collaboration requirements?

How do you plan to integrate different collaboration services with each other?

How do you automate the management processes for collaboration services at company level?

What measures do you take to reduce costs for collaboration services?

Goal: Flexible collaboration concept for individualrequirements