This document outlines the agenda and key points of a presentation on how technology can help reduce the need for travel. The presentation discusses the environmental impacts of travel, challenges of traditional work models, benefits of reducing travel, and provides a five step approach to adoption. It also demonstrates collaboration tools that can help enable remote communication and reduce the need for travel.

2. Welcome
Fire and safety
Photographs
Refreshments
Who’s here – introductions
Programme

3. Programme
Specialist input – Unitycomm with the Open
University
Break
Workshop demonstration
Q & A
Support going forward

4. Agile Communications Simplified.
How can technology help reduce travel?
Simon Ghent and Andrew Doyle

5. Agile Communications Simplified.
Agenda
• Why meet and travel?
• What the environmental impact of travel?
• Organisational Challenges
• Who can benefit from travel reduction?
• Traditional barriers to adoption
• Three key elements to make travel avoidance compelling
• Five Steps to Adoption
• Organisational Benefits of reducing travel
• Cost Justification for reducing travel

6. Agile Communications Simplified.
Open University – Why Meet?
Business meetings are held to in order to
inform, discuss, present, collaborate, sell,
strategise etc., but overall the purpose is to
communicate and be co-present with people
and objects.
(Arnfalk and Kogg, 2002, pp 17, Lyons et al
.2008)

7. Agile Communications Simplified.
Open University – reason to travel (or not)
• Organisational Structure
• Greater use of project and innovation
teams
• Geographical dispersion
• More multi-site organisations
• Flattening hierarchy
• Greater employee independence

8. Agile Communications Simplified.
Open University – The environmental
impact
• Carbon emissions from the buildings of a
service sector organisation can be as much
as 2/3rd of overall carbon emissions
• Transport from commuting and business
travel can account for the remaining 1/3rd.
• Without consideration, transport will
become a larger proportion of overall
carbon emissions

9. Agile Communications Simplified.
Work is changing – The old way

10. Agile Communications Simplified.
Business Challenges - Work is changing
• 75% of all workers think that mobility
solutions are vital to the way we work
• Legislation is demanding more employment
flexibility
• People are increasingly focused on work/life
balance
• Up to 35% of your work time is down to
latency in communication
• The next generation workforce are more
technically savvy than most organisation
• Demand for ICT flexibility
• Public Sector under scrutiny to deliver
better services for less

11. Agile Communications Simplified.
Open University – The office
• Workstation and offices go unused for as
much as 2/3rds of the week. (Felstead et
al, 2005)
• Cost per desk space £9,000 per annum
(Watkinson, 2008)
• Energy usage per desk space 404kwh/m2
(Carbon Trust, 2003)
• Annual cost savings to UK economy from
flexible working by reducing turnover,
£287m and reduced absenteeism £3.2b
(Lister and Harnish)

12. Agile Communications Simplified.
Open University – The home
• Rebound effects
• Additional trips
• Heating
• Larger houses
• Location
• Benefits to local community and shops
• Need for longitudinal studies
• H&S impact/ Corporate responsibility

13. Agile Communications Simplified.
Barriers to adoption
• Corporate ICT infrastructure and
management
• Delivering a seamless experience
• Organisations culture
• Implementation Costs
• Complexity

14. Agile Communications Simplified.
Three elements that convince people not to
travel
Decision
Confidence
in
technology
Personal
Workload
Cost

15. Agile Communications Simplified.
What tools are available?
• The cloud is making powerful technology
more accessible
• Deployment costs are much lower
• Risk is greatly reduced
KEY: Flexibility

16. Agile Communications Simplified.
Five Steps to Adoption
• Insight
• Leadership Alignment
• Profiling
• Change Programme
• Transition

17. Agile Communications Simplified.
Open University – Benefits
Savings from office rationalisation and flexible working
• 1,800 years in travel time
• £700 million less per year on building infrastructure
Savings from home working per year
• 12 million litres of fuel at a cost of £10 million, equating to 54,000
tonnes of CO2
• Increased office efficiency
• Allocated desks only able to accommodate 1,000 people
• Using the office flexibly, average daily footfall of 10,000 people

18. Agile Communications Simplified.
Open University – Personnel Benefits
• Feel good factor
• Interdepartmental competition
• Individual targets
• Work life balance
• Story telling
• Training

19. Agile Communications Simplified.
Demonstration
Let’s now see it in action

20. Any questions?

21. Help!
Unitycomm
ways2work
Smarter Travel Leicester
Go Travel Solutions
…..each other

22. Bye bye
Thank you to Highcross, Simon and Andrew
Help to spread the word
Next workshop: Tuesday 13th March – 10:30
Electric Dreams - new vehicle technology with
Cenex and PowaStation
Feedback – e-mail in the next day