With the London 2012 Olympics rapidly approaching, now is the time for many companies to start making more use of the Cloud. It is expected that Londoners and commuters will experience heavy disruption throughout the games, and whilst we have all seen the adverts that encourages us to ‘think ahead’ when it comes to travel arrangements, could we be doing more to help prevent long delays, disruptions and make happier employees?
For companies already supporting a mobile workforce, they will probably experience little or no impact on their performance and efficiency. But for the remainder of businesses, staff being blighted at every turn by long delays, overcrowded public transport and long traffic queues, is going to have a serious and negative effect on their day-to-day performance.
Studies carried out by Reuters, show that long commutes can have a negative effect on our health, including high blood pressure. Other studies carried out by BMC Public Health, have shown that stress and fatigue can increase in line with commuting times. So, instead of insisting that employees allow extra time for travelling, employers could offer access to desktop and applications via mobile and smartphone devices, thereby ensuring that employees do not have to make the unnecessary journey into the capital during busy or peak periods.
It might be easy to ignore the negative impact that the additional commuting time might bring, by dismissing it as short term only, but research shows that even short term changes in increased stress or loss of sleep can have a long term impact.
So making a few small changes, like introducing a flexible approach to working from the office, might ensure that your business remains productive and employees refreshed throughout the Games. In no particular order, here are our ‘Top Five Apps’ to keep your employees moving during the Olympics.
- 1. Google Apps – free your employees to work the way they want, from anywhere they want with familiar tools like spreadsheets, documents and presentations.
- 2. Drop Box – lets you bring your photos, documents, and videos together and share them easily.
- 3. Salesforce.com Mobile – get instant access to your Salesforce.com information on the move.
- 4. Chatter – get instant updates on the people, projects, and files that you care about most.
- 5. i-Cloud – sync your music, photos, apps, calendars and documents across all your mobile devices.