http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110911/BusinessTimes/bt39.html
Mobile, content; future for Virtusa : GM
By Jagdish Hathiramani
Mobile technology, enterprise content management, business process management, software testing and applications support are emerging areas in which Virtusa is expecting future growth. These are beyond the company’s “normal bread and butter” offerings of IT consulting, application maintenance, development, systems integration and managed services capabilities, according to Virtusa General Manager Madu Ratnayake, who was speaking to the Business Times. Joining Mr. Ratnayake in his comments were Head of Delivery for Colombo Pragash Krishnamoorthy and green initiative leader, Associate Director Denver de Zylva.
Virtusa’s local operations, consisting of 1,700 people, is one three centres based in Chennai, Hyderabad and Sri Lanka, and it accounts for one-third of the company’s global revenue. A NASDAQ listed enterprise, Virtusa’s global revenue for the first quarter (Q1) 2011/2012 was US$ 61 million, a 19% increase year-on-year. Further, its second quarter (Q2) 2011/2012 revenue forecast was between US$ 70.2 million and US$ 72.7 million, while its full year 2011/2012 revenue prediction is slated as being between US$ 280 million and US$ 292 million. Additionally, noted Mr. Krishnamoorthy, all centres were planned to grow equally and the only constraint to this is on the talent side, since Sri Lanka was considered, in a strategic sense, as equally important as India.
Mr. Ratnayake, also a Vice Chairman of local IT-BPO body SLASSCOM, further suggested that, as IT needed to expand beyond universities, with its enrollment limitations, the out-of-the-box idea of promoting IT as a career to O/L and A/L students was initiated by the sector, which was also a reason behind SLASSCOM’s and Virtusa’s recent agreements with the country’s 25,000 student strong Vocational Training Authority. Additionally, he added that a lot of work had been done to promote IT as a career by SLASSCOM, ICTA and other organisations with the result being a clear uptake in people seeing IT as a great career. And also that there are a lot more entrepreneurs coming up and a lot of young people who want to start their own ventures, especially compared to five years ago when there was hardly anybody who wanted to go their own way. Further, he identified this as a growing trend; a remarkable change, which has particularly come about only in the last three or four years.
Elaborating on the types of IT careers open to school leavers, Mr. Ratnayake suggested that software testing (also known as quality assurance) was one area for entry through vocational training, while graphic designers, and other professionals from the artistic side, were also sought after in the IT sector. He also highlighted, in the IT space of other sectors, careers in marketing, media, web, with graphics and website design. Additionally, IT support was also an area of ongoing demand with more and more companies offering these services to commercial and domestic clients, especially with greater adoption of IT at local companies. Agreeing, Mr. Krishnamoorthy noted that this was not a substitute for qualifications in the IT industry but, when done in parallel to earning a degree, was a fast track into the IT sector, four years early.
Meanwhile, according to Mr. Ratnayake, Virtusa’s clients, many of which they say are Global 2,000 companies, previously looked at India only as a location for their development teams. This had changed and they were now also seriously considering Sri Lanka as they wanted to broad base their risk profile. Further, a real interest shown had been shown by them as demonstrated by a number of inquiries received significantly increasing. However, these clients were still restricted by the need to comply with appropriate due diligence protocols. He also added that, locally, the biggest growth shown to date was in the BPO sector. And, it was his opinion that a positive profile for Sri Lanka was still in the process of being secured.
Further indicated, 65% of Virtusa’s clients were in North America, 20% in Europe and, an area that has actually see some growth; Sri Lanka has 5% to 10% of clients coming from the local sector. Mr. Ratnayake also signalled that the company had taken an active role in pursuing local business opportunities and, as such, was working with the government as well as some blue chip companies, all in an effort to bring global best practices to Sri Lanka. However, he also admitted that a lot of local companies were still unaware that Virtusa offered its services in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Mr. Krishnamoorthy suggested that, while outsourcing and BPO were well driven through India, the pace and growth of Sri Lanka’s operation has kept up with India and clients visiting locally have not really seen a difference vis-a-vis the talent they saw at the local premises and the talent they saw at the India centres. He also added that Virtusa’s ‘mantra’ was to have 85% of leaders to rise through their ranks. Additionally noted, the calibre of clients, new technologies, etc. were all “stunning.” Adding to this, Mr. Ratnayake also indicated that working at Virtusa was like working for multiple companies. While Mr. De Zylva noted that, in house, there was even a process whereby employees could innovate.
While affirming that there was “immense” competition and price pressure, the latter of which is a top trend witnessed across the global IT industry, Mr. Krishnamoorthy also noted that Virtusa’s clients valued the innovation and client experience they received from the company, with most of the clients, and especially the top 10 accounts, having worked with the company for six years. He also revealed that, uniquely for Virtusa, its clients as well as many of its top competitor’s such as Infosys and Satyam were pushing for a little bit of diversity, or what is becoming known as the ‘India plus one strategy.’ And Virtusa benefited from being, out of all the providers in this area, the closest to India so travel, co- location, etc. was not a big hassle.
At the same time, Mr. Ratnayake also opined that, over the next three to four years, small and medium enterprises would be getting into outsourcing more, as this business model was now becoming viable for outsourcing as smaller countries like Sri Lanka would even take on small businesses of 100 employees while larger countries did not take them seriously.
Mr. Ratnayake also revealed Virtusa’s most recent acquisition of ALaS Consulting, costing the company US$ 375,000 in transaction costs, gave the company an all-important capital markets capability, an important growth segment, as well as giving Virtusa a presence in the USA’s West Coast. The latter also provided Virtusa with access to a lot of financial services companies while also complementing Virtusa’s Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) offerings.
Adding to this, Mr. Krishnamoorthy suggested that acquisitions would only occur in areas where Virtusa chose not to build its own competency, with core areas such as Business Process Management being seeded internally. He also identified previous acquisitions InSource as being a consultancy for business re-engineering and ConVista as being a company specialising in SAP Enterprise-wide Resource Planning (ERP) implementations, while also noting that the most recent acquisition of ALaS signalled a deeper focus by Virtusa in the BFSI area. He also added that some of Virtusa’s Insurance clients were already taking advantage of the services offered by InSource to re-engineer their processes, etc. as they were comfortable with the existing relationship and did not want to involve other vendors.
Mr. Ratnayake also outlined Virtusa’s goals of “driving towards a social business” and its promotion via internal social devices, such as Virtusa’s Facebook-type Yammer social network, which is used for both work and play, drawing on the experiences of 5,000 Virtusans, to integrate the benefits of wikis and crowd sourcing and other global collaboration methodologies internally. Additionally, he noted that the company was in the process of determining how these Web 2.0 capabilities could help productivity as well as transparency within the company.
Further, he also highlighted the company’s personal excellence programme whereby continual improvement was driven at a single individual level with each employee having a personal dashboard showing their specific performance, productivity, quality, number of defects, etc. as well as overall company performance.
IT to be included in next year’s national environmental awards
Thanks to Virtusa’s efforts with Sri Lanka’s environmental authorities, there will be a section for IT companies in next year’s government organised, national environmental awards, according to Virtusa Associate Director Denver de Zylva.
Mr. De Zylva, who also noted that, by championing various green initiatives under its “Code Green” internal programme, Virtusa had saved 30% over three years. Also emerging, for the same period, there was a 31% cut in electricity related carbon dioxide emissions, 57% cut in air travel related carbon dioxide emissions and 19% cut in land travel related carbon dioxide emissions.
Further, a study by conducted jointly by Megaskills Research UK and Sri Lanka’s Industrial Technology Institute had noted that Virtusa’s total Sri Lanka carbon footprint for Financial Year 2011 was 2,624 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalency per year, while, per seat, this figure was 1.64 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalency per year, per seat. In addition, Mr. De Zylva alluded to plans by Virtusa to, ultimately, show in real time the personal carbon dioxide emissions per seat.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110911/BusinessTimes/bt36.html
The local office of a top global audit firm, KPMG, recently announced that it had released a new iPad application (app), aimed at “busy corporate executives such as Directors, Chief Executives, CFOs and senior managers,” which it says will allow them to “easily search and sort through an interactive library containing hundreds of articles, reports, briefings and surveys.”
In addition, it was also indicated that the app users could access “information on best practices and insights across a broad range of industries, download publications for future reference and save their comments through interactive bookmarks.”
Also noted, “recently released version 1.3 further extended the capabilities of the KPMG App for iPad with more frequent updates of content, better filtering to help users retrieve more content, the ability to sort articles by date and extending the capability to view up to 50 results at one time.”
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110821/BusinessTimes/bt10.html
Sri Lankan food and retail conglomerate Cargills recently reported a group revenue of Rs. 11.2 billion, up 25% year-on-year, and a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs. 330 million, a 6% year-on-year increase, for the three months to end-June 2011, the first quarter (Q1) of its 2011/2012. This was also said to include a “pre-operating cost of approximately Rs. 100 million excluding the interest cost incurred to fund new investments during the last two quarters of the previous financial year.”
Additionally, according to Managing Director Abdul Wahid, the company revealed that it had “now fully revamped its biscuit facility and re-engineered the product range which would be launched during the upcoming quarter.”
Further noted by Mr. Wahid, “‘Cargills Food City’, Sri Lanka’s No 1 modern retail chain continued to maintain a steady growth in transactions and volume while consolidating its position in the industry with the opening of its 4th outlet in the Northern region in Kilinochchi, taking the total number of stores to 164. The retail sector invested Rs. 250 million to increase it’s modern trade footprint during the quarter.”
He also added that “FMCG brands comprising, Magic, Kist, Finest, Sams, Goldi and newly acquired Kotmale , reported volume growth in excess of 20%… Millers Brewery Limited, the new investment, commenced limited production during the 1st quarter and market acceptance of the renowned ‘3 Coins’ brand indicates a promising off take. Aggressive expansion has been planned for the brewery.”
In addition, capital expenditure in terms of additions of property, plant and equipment for Q1 2011/2012 was shown to have more than doubled, to Rs. 491 million, compared to the corresponding period the year before. While a segmental analysis highlighted the fact that revenues in food and beverages, wholesale distribution and leisure businesses all grew year-on-year by 25%, 12% and 7%, respectively, with photo processing being the only segment to fall, by 29% year-on-year. At the same time, segment related profitability dropped for all businesses except the food and beverages unit which witnessed of 25% year-on-year growth in the “Segmental profit before unallocated overheads” line item.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110821/BusinessTimes/bt26.html
Harry Jayawardena-controlled Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka (DCSL) recently released its interim, unaudited first quarter 2011/2012 financials in which it revealed consolidated gross revenues of Rs. 15.3 billion, up 35% year-on-year, and profit attributable to equity holders of Rs. 1.2 billion, a 49% year-on-year increase, for the three months to end-June 2011. Also shown, investment income more than doubled year-on-year to Rs. 378.2 million.
Dividends received also shot up by twice what it was the year before to Rs. 159.2 million while acquisitions of shares and other investments as well as property, plant and equipment increased in excess of Rs. 700 million and by four fold, year-on year, respectively. Also, cash and cash equivalents for the period was indicated as being Rs. 6.6 billion, up from Rs. 2.5 billion for the corresponding period the year before.
Additionally, segment-wise, there were year-on-year consolidated turnover gains in all business units, except for telecommunications. Beverages grew to Rs. 12.7 billion, from Rs. 9.3 billion, Plantations rose to Rs. 774.7 million, from Rs. 699.5 million, and Diversified increased to Rs. 702.6 million, from Rs. 178.6 million, while Telecommunications fell to Rs. 1.1 billion, from Rs. 1.15 billion. At the same time, industry profitability rose across the board, year-on-year, with Beverages growing to Rs. 1.7 billion, from Rs. 1.3 billion, Plantations rising to Rs. 132.3 million, from Rs. 87.1 million, Telecommunications increasing to Rs. 15.2 million, from a loss of Rs. 73.6 million, and Diversified going up to Rs. 47 million, from a Rs. 44.2 million loss.
However, a notation also reiterated that the company was yet to receive profits it was due from the Sri Lankan government after its shareholdings in Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC), valued at Rs. 5.7 billion, reverted back to the state. This lack of action is said to be as a result of an unfinished valuation for 2003 to 2009 SLIC profits which the country’s Supreme Court ordered paid to DCSL subsidiary Milford Holdings.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110821/BusinessTimes/bt12.html
Sri Lanka’s NDB Group has revealed it had reached a “landmark” Rs. 1 billion in group profit attributable to shareholders for the first half (H1), the period to end-June, of its 2011 financial year, a year-on-year increase of 37% over the corresponding period last year. This was identified as resulting from “strong core banking profits and improved performance of the group companies.”
The NDB Group is said to have concerns in commercial banking, with 53 branches island-wide, as well as capital markets and insurance. Meanwhile, the group also indicated that its banking arm’s “Net Income increased by 5% over the corresponding period last year. This improvement was supported by the significant growth in loans and advances and deposits by 44% and 41% respectively over the last twelve months. NDB Bank’s core banking profits (Operating Profit After Provision for Fall in Value of Dealing and Investment Securities less Equity Income) increased by 9.7% over the corresponding period last year.”
Additionally, it also emerged that the bank’s second quarter performance (April to June) was “significantly higher than the performance for the first quarter. NDB Bank’s Profit Before Tax for the second quarter was Rs. 971 million, a growth of 37% over the first quarter of 2011. This has been backed by strong Net Income growth of 16% over the same period. The Profit After Tax of the Bank for the second quarter was 31% higher than the Profit After Tax for the first quarter of 2011. Profit After Tax of the Bank increased even more significantly by 45% over the 12 month period, partly due to the reduced tax rates applicable from 2011.
The loans and advances and deposits portfolio grew by 23% (Rs. 16 billion) and by 14% (Rs. 8.6 billion) respectively over 31 December 2010. This impressive growth in the Bank’s lending portfolio and the deposit liabilities are well in line with industry growth rates. The Bank’s total assets as at 30 June 2011 increased by 28% over 30 June 2010 from Rs. 94.9 billion to Rs. 121.2 billion.”
Also noted, despite significant growth in its loan portfolio, NDB Bank has kept its Non Performing Loans (NPL) ratio to 1.58%, which it attributed to “strong credit analysis techniques and with the use of proactive risk management practices.” Further, the bank also indicated it SME portfolio had “grown by 66% over the past 12 months.”
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/110731/BusinessTimes/bt34.html
Sri Lanka’s top corporate John Keells Holdings has released interim earnings for the three months to end-June 2011 which has shown group revenue to be Rs. 15.69 billion, a 21% year-on-year (YoY) increase, while profit before tax (PBT) was Rs. 1.88 billion, up 23% YoY, and profit attributable to equity holders was Rs. 1.37 billion, a 35% YoY rise.
According to comments in the interim report by group Chairman Susantha Ratnayake, the transportation group PBT was Rs. 742 million, down 7% YoY, attributed to a stronger Sri Lanka rupee. He also noted that leisure group PBT was Rs. 374 million, up from a loss of Rs. 14 million in the same quarter of the previous year, a result of strong showings by city hotels and the rebounding of Maldivian properties.
Further indicated, the group’s property arm “recorded a PBT of Rs. 85 milion for the quarter, a decrease of 41% over the corresponding period last year [2010/11 Q1: Rs. 145 million].” An outcome which Mr. Ratnayake said was due to the cyclical nature of revenue recognition of the local property market.
He also signalled a “Consumer Foods and Retail PBT of Rs. 207 million for the quarter was an increase of 22% over the first quarter last year [2010/11 Q1: Rs. 169 million], primarily due to volume increases in the ice creams and soft drinks businesses.” And that “Financial Services PBT of Rs. 422 million for the quarter is a 12% increase over the same period last year [2010/11 Q1: Rs. 377 million], mainly as a result of a significantly better performance by the banking associate Nations Trust Bank.”
In addition, he noted that the “Information Technology Group recorded a loss of Rs. 20 million for the three months, compared to the performance over the same period last year [2010/11 Q1: Rs. 0.8 million] due to costs associated with the transition of the BPO business to a new facility.” While; “Other comprising of Plantation Services, John Keells Capital and the Corporate Centre recorded a PBT of Rs. 74 million for the three month period, an increase of 43% when compared to the corresponding period last year [2010/11 Q4: Rs. 52 million].”
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100829/BusinessTimes/bt35.html
3.1 mln computer network Asian professionals needed by 2012
By Jagdish Hathiramani
Some 3.1 million people will be required in the Asia Pacific region alone in the field of computer networking by 2012. India currently graduates only about 20,000 IT students annually, while Sri Lanka outputs a mere 10% of its larger neighbour’s load. As such, there are great opportunities in this field, according to Lokesh Mehra, the Regional Manager for Corporate Responsibility at the South Asia operation of international networking giant Cisco.
Mr. Mehra also noted that, while computer networking was historically a male profession because of its prior focus on hardware-heavy functions; this profession had shifted to focus more on software, making it much more accessible to women. Now, women in the Asia Pacific region occupied 24% of networking jobs. However, Sri Lanka was a concern for Cisco as women occupied only 9% of local networking jobs – a number the company wanted to improve.
He also noted that, while the Sri Lankan government was on the right track with its plan to introduce computers to all schools under the Secondary Education Modernisation Project spearheaded by the Ministry of Education along with its added focus on teaching English; the basic ingredients of IT adoption would ideally be more science, technology and mathematics subjects in the curriculum.
Additionally, it was important to have a conducive IT policy that enabled ordinary people to be benefited by reduced tariffs and, as such, experience direct, monetary results of IT adoption. Cases such as getting better prices for crops and fish due to technology, etc. Mr. Mehra also indicated that there were currently a number of projects across the country, and even the region, where IT was resulting in real world savings for rural communities, but these “silos” were seldom highlighted because there was no mechanism to integrate all these projects; which is what a conducive IT policy might do.
Further noting that local Cisco academies had a current intake of 1,300 students for this year, and had trained an additional 2,100 students since 2001; he anticipated that this number would increase to 5,000 students enrolled per year by 2012. He also suggested that the North and East provinces of Sri Lanka were a big priority for Cisco, especially because they are a big priority for the government.
These comments by Mr. Mehra were made on the sidelines of the third National Cisco Skills Competition, which was organised in conjunction with the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). According to a company statement regarding the event, this “day-long competition saw participation of 150 students from 50 teams comprising of three students each from four Cisco networking academies. The skills competition comprised of three rounds which are multiple choice networking related questions followed by packet tracer simulation activities and finally troubleshooting. Such competitions help evaluate students’ skills in designing, maintaining and troubleshooting computer networks so as to ensure that the quality of training being provided to students is in line with the best in the world”.
The winner of the national competition was Team COM3 from SLIIT in Colombo, comprising BJR Mendis, KRDD Chathuranga and HND Perera; while the first and second runners up were Team Seven (with VR Nandasena, ND Hemachandra and LAVI Prabath from SLIIT in Malabe) and Team Edge 3 (with MDNS Peiris, Skandakumar Ramesh and Fathima Jiffry from SLIIT in Colombo), respectively.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100808/BusinessTimes/bt46.html
Sri Lankan luxury retailer ODEL recently released its financials for the first three months of its financial year ending in 2011, where it recorded significant growth over the same period last year. The issuing of company results also coincided with ODEL shares beginning trading this week on the Colombo Stock Exchange, where it experienced a high of Rs. 38.50.
Showing an increase in sales of 62%, to Rs. 692 million, while the cost of sales rose far less, at just 55% or Rs. 427.8 million; the local 13-store chain also recorded a steep increase in profitability equaling 199%, to Rs. 37 million, over the same period in the last financial year.
The interim report additionally noted a 77% hike in distribution costs, to Rs. 40.4 million; a 56% rise in administrative costs, to Rs. 160 million; and a 17% fall in finance costs, to Rs. 21.5 million. Commenting on her company’s performance, Chief Executive Otara Gunewardene suggested “higher tourist arrivals, efforts to make the brand more accessible to local consumers and a focused consolidation of business operations had contributed to the growth”.
She also revealed; “Same store sales showed considerable growth year-on-year while the newly opened stores at Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, Panadura and Maharagama performed above expectations. With the anticipated surge in tourist arrivals as well as a continued increase in local consumer demand, we are confident we will see strong growth going forward”.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/100328/BusinessTimes/bt44.html
Exploring tomorrow’s world today
Recently an innovative advertisement on a foreign news channel showed a classroom filled with children and a teacher. A visitor walks into the room and asks the children what they plan to do next week. “We are going to China,” shout the kids. “That’s wonderful,” says the surprised visitor, adding: “How do you plan to do that?”
“See, see …,” the children shout once again, pointing to a large, flat television screen behind the visitor which shows smiling and waving children in a classroom in China.
The message here is that technology has got so advanced that one doesn’t need to travel (other than using it as a experience) to learn about or deal with other countries. Advanced communication is taking care of this through innovations like video conferencing, conference calls, video chats, video lessons, Internet, Skype and all forms of social networks. The opportunities and ways of doing this is endless with new methods coming up almost daily to feed the hunger of a world eager for information and new ways of communicating.
The advertisement in a sense also reflected the classroom of the future which is the theme of a new series in the Business Times. In the weeks and months ahead, reporter Jagdish Hathiramani will profile the new age and what the future would look like in our classroom, our home, our office space, our car, our hospital, our general practitioner’s consultation room and loads and loads of what our space and the environment we live in would look like. Hathiramani says the future is closer than we think as technologists tell us that the world of tomorrow has already seamlessly and inextricable intruded in our lives today; to such a degree that, for those of only two or three generations past, we already live in a world that is almost indistinguishable from magic. This is about tomorrow.
This is the tomorrowSERIES. Write in with your comments and suggestions to Jagdish at mobileoption@gmail.com and join him as he explores tomorrow’s world, TODAY.
The office: Paperless and work on the move
By Jagdish Hathiramani
Wherever you turn, today’s corporate world is all about paperless offices, laptops, smart mobile devices, laser printers, virtual offices, more collaborative spaces, video-conferencing, shared and managed services, ‘plug and play’ offices, etc. In fact, the most common term of all representing tomorrowOFFICE is paperless. Ironically, this was first coined in the 1940’s, when mainframes were first introduced, and referred to the eventual automation of all data which was at the time stored exclusively on paper. While many of the abovementioned tomorrowOFFICE elements will by necessity fold into future concepts, most agree that many have not yet reached their ultimate level of miniaturisation or efficacy which will see them seamlessly integrate into the fabric of the office of tomorrow.
Meanwhile, shared visions of tomorrow offer increasingly simplified and uncluttered workspaces, which are almost indistinguishable from the outdoors. Coloured in light shades, and airy with plants; these offices will have no file cabinets, keyboard, monitor or mouse. All will be replaced by voice recognition capable wallpaper type display which, when not in use, would be transparent. Meanwhile if you need to type or scroll, as if with a touch pad, touch sensitive projections of keyboard and touch pad will appear on your desk.
At the same time, meeting rooms and other collaborative spaces at offices may also cease to exist due to total immersion technologies which will link your cubicle to others and aggregate to create the reality of an in-person meeting or multi-personnel conference. In addition, this technology will prompt a re-imagining of video-conferencing so your’s and your colleagues’ cubicles can seamlessly transcend from an individual to a group workspace, depending on your minute by minute needs, which will also allow linking colleagues both close and far away into the real time interface.
Data on the go
And as for your personal data, it will move with you of course; no need for a thumb drive, a data CD or any other storage device; storage, like your personal identification number (one unique number which will multi-purpose as your contact number, email,etc.), will move with you when you move and automatically update devices in your vicinity, all filtered according to private and public security and privacy levels. In fact, you yourself will become the ultimate smart device and the proposed microgramme-sized device with heads up display which is being proposed today in lieu of mobile phones will be painlessly embedded on your person and will also carry your credit history and your certificates for insurance, driving, etc.
This allows a project/document to be worked on while en route from office to commute to home and vice versa without a noticeable gap in the workflow. Unfortunately, this system also means that you will work more hours and that you will remain in touch with your office during vacation periods.
And, because of a predicted blurring between the functionality tomorrow’s office and tomorrow’s home, the virtual office concept will kick in when you reach home as well as being accessible 24/7 in all rooms of your home. How would it feel if your bed had a built-in office? More on this in upcoming installments of the tomorrowSERIES.
However, due to this constant and networking element of the modern workplace, it is believed that emotional intelligence will be even more valued than previously. Other areas which will also increasingly include more collaboration with less in-person interaction, less travel replaced by more telecommuting, and less investment in traditional expenses like leases, property taxes and facilities maintenance.
Biometrics
Other tech that may appear in the offices of tomorrow includes: sensors in the office that tracks occupants biometrics and changes temperature, light level, etc to improve worker output and ergonomics. A full shift towards collaborative spaces where, instead of cubicles, people could share one communal room akin to a large library and sit at any open space which will come preset with required work devices.
Additionally, one idea even suggests the re-definition of our understanding of the way people work; and most startling of all, it is an idea which has already proven its worth in, of all places, Kenya through a innovative company and service called txteagle. In fact, the example of txteagle may prove more revolutionary to the way we work in the long run than evolutionary.
Using ‘crowdsourcing’, simple micro-jobs like transcribing, checking search engine results, etc. are farmed at a vast and unaffiliated labour pool through mobile phones, which are almost universally possessed by the masses.
The idea ties in with the growing ‘future of work’ trend towards freelancing and enables txteagle to offer these micro-jobs to workers for a few cents for each job, thus allowing workers to take home as much US$5-US$10 a month for a extra few hours of work, a lot in Kenya. Others that have adopted this model, but with more professional and specialised freelancers, include Elance, InnoCentive and iStockphoto.
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