The younger generation dont need to press the flesh and sit-down like the over 50’s generation.
Travel for business is in permanent freefall, and the 9 to 5 mentality a thing of the past.
Business Hotels are publicly stating a 40% downturn with no sign of recovery.
In fact major contributors to this topic expect zero recovery- EVER
Business Hotels and office rental space have a massive dilemma, one I’m not sure has an answer.
My team has become a “mobile institution” because we do not travel at all
Sharing information and documentation has become so easy and the growth of CRM usage or business management systems like Slack is the new normal, in a way that seemed impossible just 2 years ago.
The consequences of zero travel
And information distribution to my team has become a “mobile institution” and I am observing emails being opened in the middle of the night, Slack comments early doors and documents being abandoned mid read.
On calls, I have asked key staff for there thoughts on a particular memorandum, knowing full well they hadn’t read the detail.
Volume of documentation is a real problem
The other more serious problem is the sheer volume of information share in the new mobile institution we work in.
And I’m not one for the detail of reporting systems, but its become increasingly obvious that key workers work on the move and that means they work on their Smartphone.
And thats where the problems arise.
Merrily creating documents in PDF or word on my PC without understanding the importance of creating that document in a Smartphone format wasn’t easy to grasp.
I slowly realised my staff and partners weren’t abandoning the document at all, they simply couldn’t read it !
The documents were un-navigable, huge or tiny on the screen, lumpy, slow to download and not fit for purpose.
The other challenge is because of the nature of rapid change inside our systems a document can quickly become out of date or invalid.
The answer was intrinsically a paper based solution.
Discovering Google Drive was the first part of the internal document revolution
This means that the Document/ Spreadsheet is live and can be changed and updated just like a web page or an APP.
Anybody who has access to the document sees the latest version.
So even after the document is posted in Slack or sent out on email, any iterations made are immediate.
That was a revelation, but only part of the solution.
It’s a self fulfilling philosophy.
Because if the document essentially always stays the same then if it was attached to an editable QR (that always stays the same), its the perfect conduit for a Smartphone enabled document thats scannable from the Smartphone.
If you think about it, a Smart QR code landing page only works on a Smart device doesn’t it?
So a PDF has to be Smartphone friendly on a system like that.
It’s a self fulfilling philosophy
Deciding on the Master QR control panel was easy and guess what?
A small Print job.
I printed it in high quality format and posted it to my team ! remember the Post office ?
A set reminder on email and SMS to scan the 5 QR for the latest document updates.
Each QR has a call to action pertinent to our organisation.
I have a clutch of Smart QR connected to a clutch of landing pages that deliver the Smatrphone information in the right format.
Interestingly, each QR also has a live link, much like a website link for anybody who’s on a PC etc it appears as a normal document.
Our very first Smart Company brochure is on the table now, Im looking for contributors.
But I envision Smart subscription QR taking centre stage again.
William Nicholls MD Maltix
