Electronic Tools by Steelcase

The New Ways of Working

Some say technology is an enabler of business process evolution and workplace change, others say it's a driver of those same elements. Either way, technology and the electronic tools it has provided to the workplace today is a significant factor in the way people are working. They're important for at least two reasons:

• The volume of electronic tools is rapidly increasing
• The mobility and flexibility these tools provide is changing the nature of work

Today's worker has at his or her immediate disposal electronic tools that did not exist that many years ago, tools such as:

The performance value all these electronic tools provides is somewhat dependent on the integration achieved between the tools and the physical space and its design and features, a reality that is often overlooked as people attempt to accommodate today's and tomorrow's technology. Electronic tools, as a workplace factor, focuses on the tools themselves and the elements in the worksetting required to support the use of those tools.

The Impact of All This Change

The new electronic tools make demands upon and have their effectiveness influenced by the workplace itself. For example, increasing the number of electronic devices can affect the volume of worksurface and power distribution necessary to accommodate both the tools themselves and the other functions that must be supported in the space.

This is a small example of the impact of electronic tools, acknowledging that other points of impact are even more significant such as designing for the optimal locations of shared printers, design accommodations for video conferencing, and other more challenging impacts.

The impact on the workplace of electronic tools is rapidly changing, sometimes requiring new solutions, other times solving workspace problems (for example, the way miniaturization of electronic tools can sometimes save space yet increase mobility). Either way, electronic tools are a factor of significant impact on the design of effective workplaces.

How It's Taking Shape

The growing presence in the workplace of new electronic tools has created an evolving set of specific challenges for anyone who is designing or providing workspaces for today's work force.

Noting some examples of those challenges may help to clarify issues and inspire new approaches.

Consider the workplace implications of more hardware per workspace (scanners, fax machines, docking stations, etc.) the workplace must adapt to this as it affects worksurface volume, depth, power/data connections, and even positioning.

"In 1995 printer sales amounted to $3.72 billion, up 20 percent over the previous year." --Computer Intelligence Infocorp, Consumer Technology Index Study, 1996.

"The laptop, notebook, and handheld computer market will grow 70 percent this year." -- The heat is on for battery makers, Electronic Buyers' Nnews, June 1, 1992.

"Companies are investing significantly in the technology and electronic tools their people seem to need. For example, information technology per capita spending in 1994 averaged $4,970." -- Spending without results?, Computer World, April 15, 1996.

Consider the workplace implications of desktop video conferencing. The workplace must be able to accommodate the hardware, provide appropriate acoustical levels, and configure the backgrounds to minimize glare or excessive brightness.

Consider the workplace implications of the increasing number of computer printers. The workplace must be able to accommodate proper adjacency, acoustical management issues, and sometimes worksurface within individual workspaces.

Consider the workplace implications of speaker phones. The workplace must be able to support the appropriate acoustical properties to ensure manageable sound distraction levels, as well as phone placement within the workspace for use by more than one person.

Consider the workplace implications of team and work groups. The workplace must be able to provide the electronic tool support not just for individuals, but also for teams. That may reduce the actual number of electronic tools or it may increase them, but regardless the worksettings must accommodate the team approach to electronic tool use.

In addition to the accommodation of the above types of electronic tools, the workplace must also integrate the data and power infrastructure necessary to support these tools. This topic is treated more completely in an overview on utilities management.

Finally, part of the nature of electronic tools today is increased flexibility. If the electronic tools themselves enhance flexibility, then the workplaces in which they are used must correspondingly accommodate that flexibility.

How It's All Connected

New and emerging electronic tools and their impact on the furniture configurations and the workplace do not exist in isolation. No company can be successful by focusing only on the electronic tools used by their people and the impact on the work environment.

As electronic tools continue to emerge and change, businesses will also be focusing on issues such as:

A holistic integration of these and any other relevant workplace factors will ensure that a new approach to designing and furnishing the workplace will create a more effective place for people to work and companies to succeed.

Organizational shape - the new structures, management styles, team patterns, and work culture and their collective impact in creating a new set of needs for the workplace
Work expectations - the new world view of the work force about issues such as control, meaning, personalization, and the impact of all this on performance
Electronic tools - the emerging technologies that support new forms of work, new ways of connecting with people, and new processes that enhance the speed and the quality of the output people are capable of generating

A holistic integration of these and any other relevant workplace factors will ensure that a new approach to designing and furnishing the workplace will create a more effective place for people to work and companies to succeed

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• Electronic Tools
• Utilities Management
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