Employees Want Wireless, Execs Don't Understand
from the it's-tough-to-be-the-boss dept
A new study says that while many employees understand the benefits of wireless technology for their businesses – senior executives don’t yet have a grasp on what wireless can do. So, the main gating factor slowing down the adoption of many wireless technologies is simply ignorant senior execs. The study even found a number of employees who use (and pay for) wireless technologies on their own, because it helps make them more productive.
Comments on “Employees Want Wireless, Execs Don't Understand”
Benefits?
I read the article and saw no concrete examples of how wireless can help my business. Sure, there was a list of ten marketing statements, but only one real-world example, and that one assumes you have a warehouse.
Bottom line is that employees want it because it’s a cool new toy. Senior Execs have been around long enough to have seen hundreds of cool new gadgets come and go without bringing the promised benefits to their companies.
Flashback: “Employees See Need for Web Presence, Sr. Execs Doubtful” Nine times outta ten the Execs were right.
Re: Benefits?
Employees See Need For 40 Hour Work Week, Sr Execs Doubtful
Employees See Need For Health Insurance, Sr Execs Doubtful
Employees See Need For Safe Work Environment, Sr Execs Doubtful
Employees See Need For Computers, Sr Execs Doubtful
Same old story… Some “execs” see no need for anything new until they start losing employees to other companies which do offer what employees want. The economy may be a little down right now and we (employees) may not have as many choices as before, but that won’t last long. Simple fact is – knowledge workers are still NEEDED by companies so, in the end, we will receive what we perceive to be necessities.
Re: Re: Benefits?
Guess I misunderstood ‘benefits.’ I thought they meant benefits to the company (aka Bottom Line). Apparently they meant benefits as in free coffee.
You are advocating employer provided cell phones and PDAs as perks. That’s fine. But lets not confuse that with whether or not wireless provides measurable benefits as a replacement for existing LAN infrastructure, etc. because in most cases it does not, and often introduces more problems (security being a big one!) than it solves.
This is a classic case of the natural friction between the “wouldn’t it be cool” crowd and the people that are responsible for actually ensuring profitability for the corp.
Yet another 'gee whiz' technology looking for a ho
As a Senior Exec, I think that wireless runs the risk of being another technology looking to attack already strapped technology budgets. Why should a company just start spending money for wireless, a technology that has a mixed bag of standards, given the current business climate.
And the article is provided by – geez, a website that wants everyone mobile.
Like a lot of execs we are challenged today with how do we keep our good people til the business climate changes? Would the responders prefer we fire employees so we have enough cash to allow for wireless email (and why aren’t you at your desk, anyway?).
No Subject Given
2Lazy does have a point, the article is pretty thin, and there is the definite scent of “agenda” being pushed somewhere. And no, setting up an 802.whatever network won’t make you the next Microsoft. Still, some applications genuinely make sense. Concrete example:
Wireless access points (with proper security) in conference rooms/presentation facilities. Access to sever databases (we do a lot of GIS/CAD work) for live demos, presentation and training; and, if you choose internet access for guests to get to thier Outlook/Groupwise web gateways. Also eliminates Cat5 running all over the floor and table.
Not going to make or break any company, but saves time, works better and looks more professional. Pretty good benfits for pretty low investments.
oversimplified use of 'wireless'
They mix the use of the term wireless in this article. Wireless phones are obviously in heavy use by business. Wireless email and PDA are starting to be adopted and can be very useful – I have a lot of people on blackberry’s and they are very helpful. The next step up from that would be PDA’s with wireless access to documents and databases in the office – but that kind of connectivity is not ready for primetime.
Wireless LANs are a very different ballgame, and have very limited practical use in a normal office environment. Unless people have a real business need to use their laptop down the hall every day, why in the world would they be put on a slower, less secure network when you can just drop a 100MB network cable to them? They make sense in rapid deployment or field work, but I have yet to understand why so many offices have wireless lans deployed.
Productivity gain!
Your tech staff can take their laptops into the bathroom, thus not only do they have something to read while in there, they can get work done.
(+10 funny, in a disturbing way ‘cuz you know your boss would make ya do that)
No Subject Given
Do you know the cost of wiring a desk? Do you know the cost of a wireless nic? What if you want to put that print server in the closet no one thought to wire when they built your office?
No, wireless doesn’t make sense for everything, but it can solve many problems for much less overhead.
Re: depends
Since I have actually had the displeasure of running cat5 before, the cost can vary. If it is just tossed through a typical panel ceiling and pulled down then it is cheap. If you are in Chicago, the union is gonna charge you about 70 bucks per termination plus hourly and it gets expensive. But is it generally cheaper than an access point and wireless card – yes. And what happens when someone puts a microwave in the office nearby – you lose the connection everytime someone cooks lunch.
Wireless
wireless…it’s all crap. networks are too slow, unreliable, only make token efforts at security and cost WAY too much. why we keep looking at wireless companies to invest in, i have no idea…
Re: Wireless
Gonzo,
If everyone thought like that, the PC market may have never taken off. It is still early days in wireless. We need to walk before we can run.