Recently I met an old friend working for a prominent Australian Multi Manager. We met at a coffee shop, which  was  part  of  the  brand  new,  state-of-the-art bank headquarters  in a newly developed  area just south  of Sydney’s  CBD.  I was  quite  amazed  at a number of things. First, the office was a “hot desk” set up. Basically, the investment team has a designated  area,  but no designated  desks.  In the morning,   first  in,  best  dressed.   You hook  your laptop up and log in. A large screen is attached to your laptop and the log in recreates your phone numbers and desktop configuration on the network. At the end of the day, you log off, clean off the desk (i.e.  no papers,  nothing),  go and  lock  your  laptop into a  locker,  and  go  home.  Depending  on  how early you get in, you might get the same desk, but you might not! And there is nothing on the desk. No family  photos,  Wallaby  signed  footballs,  nothing. ANZ  Bank  has  a large  new  building  in Pitt Street Sydney and I hear that this is also a “hot desk” arrangement.

I looked  up  this  concept  of “hot  desking”  and  it’s claimed  that  it saves  30%  of building space.  The theory  is that  with  holidays,  sick  days  and  travel, not all of the desks are being used and therefore a more efficient use of space. I did stop and wonder how  it  affects people  and  team  interaction.  From what I can gather, even senior execs are “hot desking”.

I think about my desk. It’s a bit of a mess. Bills to be paid. Presentations and reports to read. Family photos. iPads, Macbook Air, screen, Mac mini and a   variety   of   iPods,   iPhones   and earphones.   I couldn’t contemplate “hot desking” but maybe that’s just what the doctor ordered.  I have been thinking about   going   paperless.   Every   piece   of   paper scanned onto my Mac mini Server. I also think that this prompts people to get out of the office. Equity managers   visiting   companies.   Marketers   going around  visiting  clients.  I guess  that works  if those that you are visiting are in sync and don’t prefer to sit in an office.

The second thing that hit me was the use of Apple Airbooks  by the bank and fund management  staff. Everybody  was sitting around in the cafes with 11 inch  Airs.  I enquired about  this  and  that  was  the computer of choice for one of the biggest banks in the country, but get this, they were all running Windows! I guess Bootcamp versions of Windows. I think they  were  all  running  Version  7  versus  8.  I was pretty amazed as I used to work for the same group. In the early 2000’s half the staff didn’t have email.  I used  to communicate,  in some  cases,  by fax only! This is a massive technology turnaround. I actually bank with this bank and their net access is fabulous.

I guess I’m just fascinated  about this sort of stuff. Other  people  find  it  boring  but  I’m  a creature  of change  and  innovation.   All  of  this  is  part  of  a changing  world in which  we do business.  I love it that large organisations become creative and innovative.  I hope the days of still using Windows XP  are  long  gone  and  that  corporate  IT Professionals get to push the envelope. I remember one corporate  IT Manager  telling  me in 1993 that Windows was a passing fad. Well, he certainly got that wrong. “hot desking”  is part of this innovation and I see this as a growing  trend.  It will certainly help me be a lot more disciplined around my desk.