Colocation For Large Business – Is It Cost Effective?
The traditional business practice has the staff of employees show up some time in the early hours of the day for a meeting to get the communication and feedback rolling. The incentive to keep the empire in a place nearby is strong even for the most liberal chief executive officer. Colocation hosting seems common sense, if a group is to work together on something, they should be in proximity to one another.
There is no dearth of management experts who will explain how groups work together. The trouble is no one really knows, because every group is different. We can group phases of interaction into broad sections, we know that we move from a formal period, to one where the rules are explained, to one where individuals challenge the direction and purpose of the group and eventually begin to work together.
Communications seems to be at the heart of the decision to either allow groups to be separated or all be moved close together. The management wizards believe there is more to it than just having everyone together for the weekly gathering for guidance. They insist that people communicate nearly as much outside the formal structure as they do within it.
Studies of the movement of workers within a build have shown that without any impetus or interference from management, a pattern of interaction develops in most companies. People tend to get eat lunch at similar times. This natural congregation within the building may harbor unscheduled brainstorming sessions.
A buzzword was grabbed from the science and mathematics world that seemed very appropriate to describe the phenomenon; chaos. The origins of this concept describe the surprising divergence in progression of complex systems resulting from microscopically different starting points. This was then captured and transferred to the business system.
This unusual description of how people communicate through random contacts throughout the day may have some traction. There is ample anecdotal evidence that the interaction of individuals without a formal connection has driven some amazing creativity, especially in research and development. Famously one Computer Company insisted every worker have some creative invention on their desk, and then insisted every worker spend at least five minutes a day checking out co-workers creation.
The problems with moving everyone into a single area when they originate in different areas are multiple. There is the cost, which is not insignificant, but there is also the disruption of work. More than simply the time needed to pack, move and unpack there is a disruption that affects processes for a lingering time as workers readjust.
Today the world is driven by technology, and of all the fields it impacts, communication is one of the first and most deeply affected. The boss may have always related to people in person, his younger employees do not. With social media driving their interaction away from work, they have trouble believing collocation is the only way to meet at the office, and they may have a very good point.
Got a large business? Colocation from CCS Leeds might help. Read up on the benefits that hosting colocation could give your business
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