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TOP OF THE WEEK TO YOU!
(by realwired! CEO, Brenda Dohring Hicks)
Top of the Week to You! is designed to offer the inside scoop and latest of what's important in the world of technology as it relates to the commercial real estate industry. |
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Are You Productive as a Geek?
Is it really more efficient to think we can and should handle our own IT? Maybe. But maybe not. I'm not going to discourage being a bit self-sufficient, but do we need to be cautious about taking the whole DIY thing too far? When it comes to what we provide within our companies, should we suggest more DIY projects for our employees or less?
As I pondered this, I decided to reach out and survey a few trusted friends. The answers varied, (I wish they didn't), and it seems that there has been and will continue to be a dramatic change in expectations among the people who really use technology. Nowhere is this more true than with employees who focus hard on getting their work done. These folks used to rely on owners, managers and IT to make all the buying decisions, set up all of the equipment, and fix anything that went wrong. Today, most of these employees are on at least their third or fourth new PC at home. Most of them have smartphones, and carry their own personal laptops or tablets. Millions of them have personal email through Gmail or some other carrier and a few of them are even managing their personal files across multiple devices with cloud services like Dropbox.
So when IT tries to keep them in or worse yet deploy outdated computers, enforce limits on the size of email boxes and attachments, doesn't allow them to check the company CRM, calendar and files from their personal smartphones, these employees see the IT department not as enabling, but as a roadblock to progress and their success. On the other hand, if IT is responsive and forward-thinking it can be the key to their overall success and vital to your company. Having all your employees responsible for their own IT needs can be a huge time waster and take them away from what you are paying them to do. Like I said, the answers I got about how to handle the appropriate level of "geek" was all over the place.
Allow me to summarize a bit and see if it's helpful to you. Most employees don't want or need the IT department to hold their hands as much anymore. But make no mistake, they expect their company's systems to be as easy to use as the iPad, as unlimited as Gmail, as simple and seamless as buying on Amazon, and as intuitive to set up as Dropbox. Now that's a tall order for most companies that don't have the resources of Apple, Google, Amazon, or even a venture-backed startup like Dropbox. But, the fact that it's a tall order and maybe not even fair doesn't change expectations.
What has to change isn't really change at all. It's about assessing you and your company's needs and filling them. What is different is the pace of the change and the need to make the assessments more frequently. What has changed is ownership or management's responsibility to strive to support the IT needs of the company by looking at them through the educated eyes of the "customer" and that customer is the employee. What has changed is the need for the owner or manager to make sure that the employees are being as efficient and happy as possible doing their primary job, not being a geek, either for fun or out of necessity. You wouldn't expect employees to fix leaky toilets, fix faulty wiring, set up phone systems or even change light bulbs, just because they know how. Treat IT and tech issues in your company the same.
If you would like to join our blog discussion click here or I welcome your feedback through email .
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Hot Deals/Leads
W.S. Badcock Corp. trades as Badcock Home Furniture & More at 300 locations throughout AL, FL, GA, MS, NC, SC, TN and VA. The stores, offering furniture, bedding, appliances, electronics, home accents and floor coverings, occupy spaces of 14,000 sq.ft. to 20,000 sq.ft. in freestanding locations and inline spaces of shopping centers. Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing markets, with a primary focus on NC, SC and VA, during the coming 18 months. Typical leases run 10 years with two, five-year options. A vanilla shell and specific improvements are required. Preferred cotenants include Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Food Lion, Save-A-Lot, Tractor Supply and Walmart Express. Preferred demographics include a population of 10,000 within two miles earning $35,000 to $75,000 as the average household income. Major competitors include Ashley Furniture and Rooms To Go. A land area of two to three acres is required for freestanding locations. For more information, contact Scott McCorkle, W.S. Badock Corp., PO Box 497, Mulberry, FL 33860
Tropical Smoothie Café operates more than 300 locations nationwide. The smoothie shops occupy spaces of 1,500 sq.ft. to 2,000 sq.ft. in endcaps and inline spaces of lifestyle and strip centers. Growth opportunities are sought throughout MD, northern VA and Washington, DC during the coming 18 months, with representation by Transwestern. For more information, contact Alex Walker, 1700 K Street Northwest, Suite 660, Washington, DC 20006 Carlie C's Operations trades as Carlie C's IGA at 14 locations throughout NC. The supermarkets, featuring deli, meat and bakery departments, occupy spaces of 24,000 sq.ft. to 45,000 sq.ft. in freestanding locations and strip centers. Growth opportunities are sought throughout the existing market during the coming 18 months. For more information, contact Mack McLamb, Carlie C's Operations, 3695 U.S. 301 North, Dunn, NC 28334
Like these leads? Want More? Go to the Dealmakers website for a Subscription. Dealmakers, the nation's weekly news source on retail real estate.
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Featured Internet Site of the Week
Dropbox
Dropbox is a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. Never email yourself a file again!
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