No fixed abode in the virtual world of the cloud

Just a couple of years ago, the headline above would have made absolutely no sense to anyone. In fact even today, a great number of people would still think it is gobbledegook. But the world is moving fast and what is one day a word or term that only makes sense to geeks, can almost overnight become everyday language.

We now “Google” things, and “Facebook” people rather than research things or write letters, and suddenly we are accustomed to it.

So let me explain today’s heading…

This year Parallel Directions has shifted its business to “the cloud” which is seeing an end to big box hard drives on desks and large, on-site file servers and mail servers… and saying hello to being able to do business “virtually” from anywhere via phone, laptop and desktop.

Our new offices are smaller than before – a few work stations and adjacent shared board and meeting rooms. We no longer promote a street address as it is no longer relevant.

You could say we are of no fixed abode. That’s a term that used to have a negative connotation, much like being homeless. But today, being flexible about where you work from is becoming increasingly desirable.

There is demonstrable extra value to clients from this approach as we are now out in the field working at the coalface and forming more intimate relationships with clients rather than working back in our fixed ivory tower office.

I’ve often talked in this blog about how buildings need to fit an organisation rather than the other way around, and it’s more relevant now than ever. The old attitude of “Build a Building and the People Will Come” no longer holds water.

This really struck home to me while watching a TV clip about the latest new high rise in London – The Shard. It’s a lovely looking building, but the simplistic marketing premise was that because no one else had built a new tower in London for the past 18 months, straight supply & demand would fill the vacant spaces.

I am not so sure. An insightful business will look beyond the glamour and location of a brand new office and question what value it will add and how it will improve client relationships and the bottom line.

There are still plenty of vacancies in some Category-A cutting edge buildings around Auckland and I am sure the same goes for London.

So I would say there are a number of value adds for a business to consider in being of no fixed abode as opposed to being fixed, tied down inflexibly to a certain place and location that may or may not meet your changing needs and those of your clients.