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Practical
Productivity – The Power of “Presence”
 Where is he?
Is he at his desk?
Is he on the
phone?
Is he even at the office today?
Can he answer one
quick question?
Have you ever asked
any of the above about a fellow employee? These kinds of
questions can become real productivity blockers in today’s
fast-paced work environment. I’ve stopped asking those
questions since we installed Microsoft Office Communications
Server (OCS) and Microsoft Communicator clients at our office.
Our company is now “presence-enabled” with OCS. When I open
Communicator, I can see at a glance who is working at their
desk by a green button next to their name. If they are away
from their computer for 5 minutes, the button turns yellow. If
they are offline, their name is grayed out. When a fellow
worker is across the building or maybe even in another
location this simple list becomes a big help. For example, I
can hover over someone’s name during the middle of the day. If
they show away for 45 minutes, I can make the assumption that
I will see them back from lunch in the next 15 minutes. If
their button is green, I can type in an instant message that
pops up on their desktop.
Because
Communicator and OCS are closely integrated, I can get even
more useful information. If someone in the office has a
meeting that they have noted in Outlook, their button turns
red with a message “In a Meeting”. If they’ve marked an
appointment on their calendar that doesn’t involve someone
else in the office, they show as “Busy”. When someone turns on
“Out of Office” in Outlook, I can read their message by
hovering over a tiny post-it note to the right of their name.
So, what does all
this get me?
- First, it lowers
my frustration level. If I see that someone is out of the
office or off-line, I don’t chase them down through phone
calls, heading downstairs or calling someone else who sits
nearby.
- Second, it save
me time. Think of Communicator as a secure instant message
application like AOL or Live Messenger. I type a quick
question, I receive a quick response and move on to complete
the task at hand.
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Third, it makes
me more productive. When I am on the phone, someone can
message me that an important client is waiting downstairs or
the vendor I called yesterday is on the other line for me.
I’m not spending time on return calls or missed appointments
because I happen to be unreachable by phone at that very
moment. Employees appreciate it as well because they can
receive the answers to their questions without waiting for
the phone light button next to my name to go off.
Microsoft OCS and
Communicator are great examples of practical productivity –
call us today to find out more. |
