The modern workforce is clearly embracing this shift. According to the American Community Survey, telecommuting has risen 79% between 2005 and 2012. And companies are benefiting from home-based employees — they work 9.5% longer and were 13% more productive than office workers, based on a 9-month experiment conducted by a Stanford University professor.

With telecommuting here to stay, companies are looking for effective ways to accommodate their virtual employees. How do you maintain accountability between remote and office employees? How do you conduct effective meetings with employees around the world?

A New Generation of Collaboration Tools

A wave of new technology is cropping up to make location irrelevant. These applications are designed to mimic in-office experiences, like holding impromptu brainstorming sessions or checking in on progress in real time. And while remote workers may miss out on 70% of nonverbal communication, like facial expressions, voice tones, and eye contact, technology is getting smart enough to mimic these natural, flowing conversations online.  See More…

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For the delegates present it was 3.15pm but for Brent Frei it was 07.15 am in Seattle. Fortunately Brent is an early riser and was prepared to put his family festivities on hold in order to present his ideas on “What constitutes a Smarter Enterprise App?” and how we select the right APP when we are faced with APP overload?

Brent talked about how we are all utilising a variety of devices to view and update our work and Enterprises have had to accommodate the BYOD users.

He went on to comment:

• That corporate consumers are demanding that their APP providers tick all their boxes in order to succeed .
• How adoption relies on the corporate culture that encourages collaboration and visibility to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the very best Cloud solutions, in preference to 20^th Century legacy systems.
• How the decision making process has evolved from being top down to bottom up.

Brent explained how Smartsheet is one of the big winners in this evolving Enterprise area. Because in just one company it has many uses across departments and it is so good to use, the uptake from new users typically goes Viral across the Enterprise.

Delegates at this EXPO were from Private sector businesses across the European Union, Public sector and Universities, from the Midlands and wider UK.   They came to find out more about the opportunities presented by the best Cloud and Data solutions, to find out about the Smarter Cities being planned at Government and University level in conjunction with the Automative industry like Jaguar Land Rover, who are major employers in the area, along with their supply chain.

Digital Birmingham’s  speaker Raj Mak explained the plans to build the Smarter Cities that will benefit us all and interact with our vehicles and devices as we move about the cities of the future.

Cisco’s Head of Enterprise Networking, Sarah Eccleston explained us how Cisco has stayed ahead of the game and enabled users to BYOD and how the Network can operate with the highest level of intelligence and facilitate the benefits of BYOD while securing sensitive corporate date from inappropriate use. The explosion in internet ready devices is set to continue to grow in the Smarter City where even the Traffic lights will be “on the internet” and in an emergency they can be set to speed the progress of an ambulance across this Smart city or visitors can be guided to available parking spaces by their “Smarter (Internet enabled) car”. Plus Big Data can be utilised in so many ways to make our lives easier and smoother.

Mike Leddy, The Lord Mayor of Birmingham and Chancellor of Birmingham City University, the EXPO venue,  opened the event and welcomed delegates from all over the UK and Europe.

Richard Rymill, UK Smartsheet Consultant said: “This event has been a great opportunity for SkillsFinder to raise awareness of our consultancy services and Smartsheet  in the automotive  heartland and European  Enterprise Zone. The event has been a huge success for Skillsfinder in opening dialogue with new Smartsheet users.”

The post Smartsheet Success at West Midlands Cloud Data and Smart Mobility EXPO appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

Join us for the Largest Tech EXPO of its kind outside of the Capital, part of West Midlands Week

Serial entrepreneur, author and founder of Smartsheet, Brent Frei will address delegates at the West Midlands Cloud Data and Smart Mobility EXPO on both 27^th & 28^th November.

Hear about Smarter Enterprise Apps and Brent’s insights on the next wave of successful enterprise applications.

From his Seattle home on Thanksgiving, Brent will share case studies and talk about ‘what makes a successful enterprise app today.’

Other Event info

• All the latest developments in Cloud, Data & Smart Mobility
• Hear from Google, CISCO, IBM, Jaguar Landrover, Rolls Royce & learn their vision for the future
• Hear from Birmingham Council, the latest developments about Birmingham becoming a Smarter and Open City, creating and developing a new ‘knowledge economy’
• Receive Academic & University Support via funded business support projects
• Forge international relations via  EU brokerage event promoting inward investment into the West Midlands

The post An Invitation to the West Midlands Cloud Data and Smart Mobility EXPO on 27th & 28th November appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.