The public sector faces strikes, basically over jobs, terms and conditions. Thousands of people are losing their jobs, and will join the band of people who are told "you must get a job", yet when they tried to keep the job they already had (perhaps through strike action) are told they can't: Money must be saved, efficiency must be gained.
Again, there's nothing wrong with efficiency. Do what needs doing (and only that) as efficiemtly as possible, using machines / technology to [help] achieve it. Interlocking survival with work drives in ineficiency by forcing people to get a job that doesn't need doing, or could be eradicated, or could be done by a machine.
Showing posts with label technology to improve efficiency. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology to improve efficiency. Show all posts
Tuesday, 21 June 2011
Friday, 19 November 2010
People must have jobs - ?
This is a councillor being quoted on a council's website:
"Breaking the cycle of unemployment where generations have not known work or wages can be very difficult. Apart from job availability, the barriers may be the lack of skills, fear of starting a job in a new environment, a need for childcare, clothing and perhaps social skills.
"If a suitable job is available, we want to help identify factors that would prevent a jobseeker from getting and keeping that work.
"It's important the cycle of worklessness is broken, particularly where children are concerned, so they can learn to embrace the world of work and aspire to a more varied future."
Apart from the "aspire to a more varied future", this gets a big thumbs down from me. Let's not indoctrinate children to 'embrace the world of work' - at least not with our current understanding.
TVP/TZM approach (as I express it).
"Breaking the cycle of unemployment where generations have not known work or wages can be very difficult. Apart from job availability, the barriers may be the lack of skills, fear of starting a job in a new environment, a need for childcare, clothing and perhaps social skills.
"If a suitable job is available, we want to help identify factors that would prevent a jobseeker from getting and keeping that work.
"It's important the cycle of worklessness is broken, particularly where children are concerned, so they can learn to embrace the world of work and aspire to a more varied future."
Apart from the "aspire to a more varied future", this gets a big thumbs down from me. Let's not indoctrinate children to 'embrace the world of work' - at least not with our current understanding.
TVP/TZM approach (as I express it).
- What needs doing? (Only things that are socially constructive, and preserve and improve us and our planet for our continued existence as a species should be done.)
- Can it be done efficiently and sustainably by machine(s) / technology now, or in the future? If so deploy/develop the technology as soon as possible.
- What is left has to be done by humans, at least until the technology can take over.
Sunday, 20 June 2010
10 Ways Technology Can Cut Costs And Boost Efficiency In The Public Sector
http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/37044
Very nice article, but 2 problems:
1) The savings we seem to be looking for are upfront savings - it doesn't seem to matter how much it night save in the longer term. In fact, we see the government shutting things down, saying this will save £x as if all it was doing is wasting £ rather than investing it, which must have been a possibility. Investment in tech may well be better in the long run, but how do we pay for it now?
2) Efficiency = fewer jobs, either as a euphemism, or because technology achieves greater efficiency and less need for humans. Fewer jobs is seen as bad, making efficiency bad.
==
Make the workforce more effective
#1 Allow location-independent working
Work should be an activity, not a place. Virtual office solutions will free employees, allowing them to work from any location as effectively as in the office. Location-independence also means being able to work anywhere within a building – wireless networking can improve access to information and boost worker efficiency.
#2 Unify communications
From Voice Over IP (VOIP), voicemail and instant messaging, today’s unified communications technology can reduce costs by consolidating telephony into an organisation’s ICT. Unified communications results in lower equipment costs, reduced operational expense and simpler management. Using a hosted model will allow Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) savings and efficiencies to be realised in the shortest time possible.
#3 Embrace web-based collaboration
Collaboration is key to creating a modern, flexible organisation. Adopting the latest online collaboration tools will enable virtual meetings and training sessions and enhance cross-team working. By reducing employees’ need to travel, governmental organisations can save time and money, as well as lowering their impact on the environment.
#4 Exploit video
The human voice provides just ten per cent of information exchanged in a meeting. Video can provide the remaining 90 percent. From desktop-based webcams to full-scale TelePresence suites, there are now a huge range of affordable, flexible video options available that enable organisations to have in-person levels of communication without the need to travel – leading to lower costs and faster, better decision-making.
Create a more efficient workplace
#5 Redesign and relocate
A modern, flexible workforce is no longer dependent on physical buildings or on many of the traditional facilities within them. The public sector needs a new approach to office space built upon the concept of operational efficiency. This is clearly a complex process and will take time to implement but the potential cost savings are substantial.
#6 Manage estates intelligently
Many organisations have already seen the benefits of taking a connected approach to building management. Using networking technology to apply easily managed and measured energy policies and centralised security systems makes managing large, complex estates simpler and more cost-effective.
Get energy efficient
#7 Introduce power management
Advanced networking technologies, such as Cisco EnergyWise, manage the power consumption of every device on the network, giving organisations the ability to measure, monitor and therefore reduce the amount of energy they use.
Deliver support through ICT
#8 Consolidate datacentres
With data storage requirements for the average organisation increasing by 50% per annum, virtualisation holds huge potential for cost reduction. Moving data storage and applications to the cloud eliminates the need for capital expenditure, reduces energy consumption and improves hardware utilisation levels.
#9 Manage the ICT lifecycle
In a typical legacy network, 80% of ICT costs have to do with lifecycle operations and just 20% with product acquisition. A structured review and “spring clean” of the existing architecture can reveal significant potential savings through reducing duplication, unnecessary complexity and out of date, inefficient equipment.
#10 Develop a virtual desktop environment
A virtual desktop runs on a network connected user device and communicates with a central, virtualised server. The user operates the computer as normal but the virtual desktop device does not execute the application. Rather, this is carried out on the central server. The simpler end user device, and the fact that all applications run on central, virtualised servers, means that capital and service costs are greatly reduced.
Very nice article, but 2 problems:
1) The savings we seem to be looking for are upfront savings - it doesn't seem to matter how much it night save in the longer term. In fact, we see the government shutting things down, saying this will save £x as if all it was doing is wasting £ rather than investing it, which must have been a possibility. Investment in tech may well be better in the long run, but how do we pay for it now?
2) Efficiency = fewer jobs, either as a euphemism, or because technology achieves greater efficiency and less need for humans. Fewer jobs is seen as bad, making efficiency bad.
==
Make the workforce more effective
#1 Allow location-independent working
Work should be an activity, not a place. Virtual office solutions will free employees, allowing them to work from any location as effectively as in the office. Location-independence also means being able to work anywhere within a building – wireless networking can improve access to information and boost worker efficiency.
#2 Unify communications
From Voice Over IP (VOIP), voicemail and instant messaging, today’s unified communications technology can reduce costs by consolidating telephony into an organisation’s ICT. Unified communications results in lower equipment costs, reduced operational expense and simpler management. Using a hosted model will allow Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) savings and efficiencies to be realised in the shortest time possible.
#3 Embrace web-based collaboration
Collaboration is key to creating a modern, flexible organisation. Adopting the latest online collaboration tools will enable virtual meetings and training sessions and enhance cross-team working. By reducing employees’ need to travel, governmental organisations can save time and money, as well as lowering their impact on the environment.
#4 Exploit video
The human voice provides just ten per cent of information exchanged in a meeting. Video can provide the remaining 90 percent. From desktop-based webcams to full-scale TelePresence suites, there are now a huge range of affordable, flexible video options available that enable organisations to have in-person levels of communication without the need to travel – leading to lower costs and faster, better decision-making.
Create a more efficient workplace
#5 Redesign and relocate
A modern, flexible workforce is no longer dependent on physical buildings or on many of the traditional facilities within them. The public sector needs a new approach to office space built upon the concept of operational efficiency. This is clearly a complex process and will take time to implement but the potential cost savings are substantial.
#6 Manage estates intelligently
Many organisations have already seen the benefits of taking a connected approach to building management. Using networking technology to apply easily managed and measured energy policies and centralised security systems makes managing large, complex estates simpler and more cost-effective.
Get energy efficient
#7 Introduce power management
Advanced networking technologies, such as Cisco EnergyWise, manage the power consumption of every device on the network, giving organisations the ability to measure, monitor and therefore reduce the amount of energy they use.
Deliver support through ICT
#8 Consolidate datacentres
With data storage requirements for the average organisation increasing by 50% per annum, virtualisation holds huge potential for cost reduction. Moving data storage and applications to the cloud eliminates the need for capital expenditure, reduces energy consumption and improves hardware utilisation levels.
#9 Manage the ICT lifecycle
In a typical legacy network, 80% of ICT costs have to do with lifecycle operations and just 20% with product acquisition. A structured review and “spring clean” of the existing architecture can reveal significant potential savings through reducing duplication, unnecessary complexity and out of date, inefficient equipment.
#10 Develop a virtual desktop environment
A virtual desktop runs on a network connected user device and communicates with a central, virtualised server. The user operates the computer as normal but the virtual desktop device does not execute the application. Rather, this is carried out on the central server. The simpler end user device, and the fact that all applications run on central, virtualised servers, means that capital and service costs are greatly reduced.
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