Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 34 | Page 83

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Mobile Technology How Wi-Fi connectivity can create the smart workplace ///////////////////////////// Wi-Fi connectivity and mobile technology can have a massively positive impact on the workplace. Morten Illum, EMEA Vice President at Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, argues that if the workplace of the future is smart, as well as connected, it can become a much more personalised environment for the workers operating in it. R ecent research by Google supports a point I have been discussing with customers for many months now; there is no real difference between the user experience and the employee experience any more. What that means is, if you expect to schedule your Sunday with your mobile phone calendar, upload photos to cloud www.intelligentcio.com storage and connect with people using applications, you will expect to do pretty much the same thing on Monday, when you arrive at the office. In 2018, many of us don’t feel efficient unless we’re able to access applications on demand, and this applies to our work as much as our personal lives. Given we spend as much time in our offices as we do at home, we have to consider how the workplace can become better equipped to meet our daily expectations. Designing the workplace to better incorporate technology is not about being futuristic. It’s about meeting the minimum requirements that users now have. A business that does not consider how to improve its workplace design to suit our daily INTELLIGENTCIO 83