One

If an ICT job is completely different today from what it was, say, five years ago, then that has everything to do with the aspect of mobility. The demand for mobility has truly changed our vision of ICT and the role of the CIO.

Since 1997, Danielle Jacobs has been the driving force behind BELTUG. The independent Belgian user group was initially focused on telecom users. However, as that definition has become too narrow, BELTUG now acts as a user group for companies and public services that use communication services in the broadest sense of the term. In the meantime, BELTUG’s membership has swelled to some 845 and has thus become a major networking organization for ICT decision-makers in Belgium. BELTUG brings companies together to exchange experiences, publishes recommendations on ICT topics and holds informative workshops and seminars. The organization also defends the interests of ICT users towards the national and international governmental authorities.

Mobility is a top priority

“The use of ICT within companies has undergone a major evolution in a fairly short time,” explains Danielle Jacobs. “These days, it is often no longer the technology that poses the biggest challenge. Most companies are faced with questions about their ICT strategy, and it’s no longer been a matter of mere technology for some time now, but rather a question of service management, managing contracts and policy guidelines.” Mobility is a top priority. In the past, departments within a company often worked completely separate from one another. That has become unthinkable. Everything, these days, depends on the collaboration between employees, clients, suppliers and partners. “In this way, we have seen the birth of the concept of virtual teams. People can work from any location whatsoever because the technology makes it possible.” This is something that Danielle Jacobs has experienced at first hand. “The BELTUG team is made up of six employees who are often working from home or on the road. That’s why we are also devoted users of unified communications & webconferencing.”

Reality determines the policy

New technology has created extra mobility. Is this technology strictly an ‘enabler’ or is it also a ‘driver’? For many companies, that has yet to become clear. Jacobs: “Most companies want to increase their employees’ mobility. In that area, they generally have similar goals. But it turns out that the practical implementation of this strategy - the way in which people realize these goals - can differ greatly.” Virtually all BELTUG-members are currently heavily involved with communication. “However that doesn’t mean that everyone is equally far along. There are still quite a lot of questions out there in the marketplace.” Nevertheless, sometimes it seems that reality is catching up with us. “A year or two ago, members were asking us about the best solutions for preventing the use of social networks at work. Today, those same companies are seeking advice on how to make use of the social networks in a positive way.”

Pragmatic framework

This shows how the vision of communication and mobility within a company can evolve very rapidly. Making clear agreements, formal policy directives and a legal framework remain absolutely crucial, no matter what. Jacobs: “The law often forms a stumbling block. For example, teleworking is often done on an informal basis because the legal framework is difficult to apply in practice”. In areas such as insurance, teleworking remains a sticky issue. Concrete agreements between employer and employee about the use of communication tools are an important step in the right direction. “But, in practice, those agreements often aren’t there. A pragmatic framework often arises tacitly. The employer allows the use of social networks during working hours because he appreciates that, some of the time, the employee will be working, from home, e.g. in the evenings or at the weekend.”

Polarity

The same discussions are going on with regard to the use of presence, which is a way of displaying to all colleagues whether or not someone is available, in a meeting, etc. Is it a tool that allows colleagues to collaborate more efficiently or is it a form of control? “This polarity is a good illustration of the way that the issue is not on the technological side. Everything depends on the way in which the new technology is handled. For most employees, it is a learning process. After all, new communication channels - such as instant messaging - can be highly invasive. Before you know it, you’re spending the whole day chatting or answering e-mails, and the real work doesn’t get done. Of course that’s not the intention,” Jacobs added.

Human factor

The new forms of communication and mobility also bring new challenges, in areas such as security. “Indeed, that remains a very delicate point for many companies” Jacobs continued. “After all, often quite a lot of sensitive business information is usually stored on that smartphone or laptop. Loss or theft of the device can lead to problems.” But there again, it is primarily the human factor that causes the problem, and not the technology, so it is up to people to handle the technology correctly. Plus, more and more applications are shifting to the mobile world. That is moving the center of gravity towards the smartphone. We could put the shift towards cloud computing in the same context. “Just as companies switched over from their own development to software packages, they are now moving from their own IT infrastructure to the cloud. We see that there is a lot of interest in the concept, but there are also a lot of practical concerns,” Jacobs continued.

And that is exactly where BELTUG comes in. Jacobs: “When people are no longer able to follow the rapid evolution, we can provide information and advice. If trouble spots arise in the regulations, then we bring them up with the relevant Minister or government service. BELTUG has been lobbying for a coherent ICT policy for some time now. The authority over ICT in Belgium is too fragmented across different levels. It would benefit the sector if there could be a clearer policy.” In addition, the lukewarm interest in ICT among the upcoming generation remains problematic. “The image that high school students have of ICT is completely wrong. That is really strange. Young people can’t live without their mobile phone and PC but, at the same time, they generally have no interest in pursuing studies in this field. They often don’t even know that an ICT training these days doesn’t necessarily have to do with technology, but could be focused on communication and collaboration. It is clear that ICT education is in urgent need of a new impulse.”

Dictaphone versus PC

Danielle Jacobs studied economics at the VUB. The courses on IT appealed to her. “It was the spirit of the age,” she recalls. “In the mid-1980s, when PCs were just starting to be used in companies. It was clear that great things were going to happen in the ICT world.” After her studies, she worked for 2 years at the ICT company Xylos. When she changed over to Febelfin, the federation for the Belgian financial sector, she was given a dictaphone instead of a PC. The federation had employees whose job it was to type out the recorded messages on a word processor. “I was really astonished by that, it would be like a young employee of today being told that chatting and Facebook were off limits at work.” Since 1997 Danielle Jacobs has been General Manager of BELTUG. She is also on the board of Internet domain manager DNS.be, of which BELTUG is a co-founder, and of the international users group INTUG.

Info Beltug paper

BELTUG published an extensive paper with recommendations for the use of smartphones, Internet and e-mail at work. The text discusses organisational, legal and fiscal aspects as well as topics such as cost control for mobile communication and fiscal matters. The 90-page paper includes tips and model clauses.

The paper (in Dutch and French) is free for BELTUG Members (€ 295  for non-members). As a One Magazine reader, you can request a free sample chapter by sending an email to info@beltug.be. You can also find the Table of Contents in Dutch or French on the BELTUG website.