Confessions of an open plan office worker

Why Near Field Communication (NFC) is important in the Open Workspace

Tearing down the office walls has not only changed what offices look like, but it’s also changed how we communicate. Today, with so many communication options available, when the phone rings I know it’s important and I need to pick it up. Unfortunately, when you work in an open office environment, and you get a call that’s confidential, or an unexpected call from a customer you can find yourself a bit exposed. Don’t get me wrong, I like the open plan…I think it can actually improve collaboration. We discuss and innovate anywhere the ideas flow. However, it can be a challenge when I need privacy or want to focus.

So how did we end up  with this open plan office ? Well, budgets have a lot to do with the workplace evolution.  Soaring real estate prices meant businesses needed flexible and mobile work spaces — that meant saying good-bye to the traditional office, and hello to open tracts of desks. The reality is that open plan concepts can work for budgets, but they can also create tricky environments for handling confidential calls or customer phone conversations.

Luckily, we’ve incorporated Near Field Communication (NFC) technology into our Unified Communications. NFC helps with these challenges because it lets us transfer small packets of information over short distances — as few as a couple of centimeters away.  With just a swipe of the deskphone with the NFC-enabled device I can transfer the call and move somewhere more appropriate.

Confidential calls can be easily managed. Missed customer opportunities because of noisy office environments are a thing of the past. And, if impromptu collaboration is your thing, it’s easy to transfer a call to a conference room where you can meet with your team for some inspired creativity…I don’t know about you, but that all sounds pretty good to me.