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| Akihiro Kishimoto / Institute of Office Systems, KOKUYO Co., Ltd. Today, business organizations are being restructured to become fluid entities where information and knowledge are highly concentrated. In the era when the information and communications technology has advanced to such a extent that the entire world is about to be connected by one network, the office must serve as an important tool offering environment, technology and service needed for business activities. The office, which is to provide spaces for fluid organizations adaptable to ever changing business conditions, should never be territorially fixed. The information technology, now progressing at an incomparably rapid pace, is creating diverse virtual office spaces, so that it will not be long before workers, relieved of locational and temporal requirements, are no longer called "office workers."  Changing Workstyle and Supportive Environment 1. Change in Organization and Work As corporate organizations adopt more pliable structures and work becomes more knowledge-intensive, office workers will be reduced to three basic types: a few management teams, coordinating the entire organization, presenting business visions and long-term strategies, professionals with high expertise and skills, performing business projects, and support teams made up of staff with high specific skills, offering various kinds of support including facilities and information. If these new groups of workers carry out their objectives creatively, making full use of information technology, it will inevitably bring with it various changes in work style and work space. The following features explore some of the emerging working environments which support new work styles of professionals. Fig.1 Shift toward a more knowledge-intensive and flexible structure 2. Office Virtualization Through Information Technology The office work is now more and more electronized, with the advent of high-performance and low-price personal computers and application software with easy operation, so that workers, irrespective of their job fields, whether accountants or designers, are required to use computers. In other words, the "virtualized" desktop makes the needs of workstations more or less uniform. Along with this "virtualized" desktop, the performance of personal computers has been upgraded and its size has become more compact, so that workers will be given more freedom in choosing work locations. On top of it, the networking of individual computers is rapidly on its way. E-mails, desktop conferencing, various groupware have made networking something more than a simple communication means, eliminating limitations on where and when workers should work. Intensive use of network for informational exchange and communication will make it possible to hold many conferences electronically. In such a situation, electronic communications and face-to-face communications will be selectively used, so that the time and cost needed for participants to get together will be reduced and there will be less schedule coordinations. It will be necessary to reevaluate and create a consensus on the importance of face-to-face interactions getting feedback in terms of physical expressions and reactions, and establish a protocol on the procedure and communication manners for teleconferencing. In the near future, when more publishing will be done in the form of electronic media, the office library will also be electronized with resultant less paper files, its function shifting from collecting and storing information to making information available on the network whenever it is needed. 3. Wider Choice of Working Modes New possibilities will emerge when the office is virtualized at various levels by the advanced information technology. The virtualized desk top, for instance, will make it meaningless to have each workstation for a specific work content. The improved desk top portability will provide for more locational freedom in choosing the optimum place for a specific work. In other words, workers will be able to make the best combination of work modes such as work location, time and tools for a particular work or client, implementing nomadic workstyle. Nomadic workstyle, however, may not always be the best choice, as those who support highly mobile workers should be stationed at fixed locations easily accessible by internal customers. Fig.2 Wider Choice of Working Modes 4. Needs for New Supportive Environment Two kinds of office space come to mind when we think of supportive environments for nomadic professional workers. One is the electronic office as a virtual space and the other is the office as a physical space. The electronic virtual office consists of network infrastructure, various information equipment and services offered through network, whereas the physical office consists of spaces where nomadic workers visit and work as well as various tools they will select for a specific job. If such supportive environments are implemented, nomadic workers can communicate with other members or acquire information service by accessing the electronic space. Club Type Office Space Supporting Electronic Nomads 1. A Base Camp for Nomadic Workstyle One image of the future office is something similar to a membership club, offering facilities and services to meet the specific needs of its members. As an existing model, the business support center of a hotel or the airline members' lounge at an airport comes close to the image. The future business office space will pliantly adapt to organizational changes and technological innovations, so that it can offer workers in remote areas an access to diverse information and supportive services through network. 2. The Structure of Club-type Office The club-type office features its capability of offering a wide range of spaces, tools and services from which workers can select to suit a specific work mode. The office should allow for flexibility in arranging one's own working environment easily and in replacing fast-changing information technology and facilities. Fig.3 Spatial image of a club type office 3. Individual Home Base The club-type office, which is, as a principle, non-territorial, with workers not being fixed to personal desks or rooms, should provide for some personal storages such as a locker and a mail box for each worker. These are in a way an individual home base, serving as a relay point for non-electronic deliverables for highly mobile workers. Fig.4 1) Assistance Desk: The support staff who offer various support services to club office members will be territorial workers. It is important for highly mobile workers to have a sense of security by knowing that the support staff can always provide them with all the services they need. 2) Individual Storages: The storage space allocated to an individual is not only a space for storing personal belongings and reference materials, but also a mailbox. It is recommended to offer several options for inside arrangements, from which individuals can choose according to their tastes, thus allowing a certain extent of freedom of personalization. 4. Shared Focus Space This is a space where highly mobile professionals concentrate on individual tasks for a short period of time, allowing for individual privacy. It can also be a place where workers can use some special equipment such as a high-performance EWS and a large VDT. Arrangements should be made so that these spaces can either be reserved, or be used without reservation to meet an emergent need. Fig.5 1) Side Table: It is important to install movable auxiliary furniture so that workers can arrange their working environments by themselves. These items of auxiliary furniture should be simple and light-weight, so that they can be used for a wide range of purposes and can be installed anywhere. 2) Shared Equipment: Large display screens are more suitable than notebook-type PC monitors for graphic work. High-performance workstations are not suitable for portable use. These expensive equipment and network terminals will be installed at office for joint use. 3) Service Wall: The stationary wall accommodates power and network cables and is provided with many outlets, to which are hooked not only apparatuses provided at the office but also portable ones brought in by workers. The wall should be independent from the furniture system in terms of structure and module, in order to allow felxible adjustment of apparatus arrangement. 5. Touchdown and Interaction Highly mobile workers networked electronically will also need face-to-face communications. A lounge-type space will be an optimum one for ordinary interactions, informal exchange of information, casual meetings and simple personal work. Such a space should be designed as an open space with portable furniture and ubiquitously provided power and network outlets. Fig.6 1) Table with Outlets: Tables in the common area for communication and interaction are provided with power and network outlets for workers to be able to use their equipment without moving to other places. 2) Mobile Side Table: For simple individual work, light-weight, portable furniture which can be freely moved is suitable. It should be located in many places so that workers can use it when and where they need it. 3) Information Counter: It is useful to provide computer terminals for join use so that workers can check their e-mail and access service menus, when they pass by the counter. Providing telepones and a bulletin board in addition to the terminals in the passage area will relieve workers of the trouble of hooking up their own terminals. 6. Group Work A closed type room will be necessary for group work for a project team. The room should be adaptable to collaborative activities with members both on site and in remote areas through network. It should provide various network and equipment for meetings and presentations. This space will also be used on reservation basis. Supportive staff should be made available to meet the requests for operational assistance and additional installment of special equipment. Fig.7 1) Modular Table: The table allowing flexible arrangement to suit the number of workers and the type of work. In addition to this flexiblity in layout, it facilitates access to the outlet provided on the docking station located in the center. 2) Docking Station: Provides outlests accessing the electrical power source and the network. As with the service wall, this stationary docking station accommodates cables and other necessary equipment, allowing the other pieces of furniture to be more mobile. 3) Service Wall: The stationary wall accommodates power and network cables and is provided with many outlets, to which various preseantation equipment and portable equipment can be hooked for different types of work. The wall should be independent from the furniture system in terms of structure and module, in order to allow felxible adjustment of apparatus arrangement. 7. Support System In order for the club-type office to function, supporting staff with high skills must provide diverse supportive services, including daily planning and management of facilities and systems,and offering extensive services to users of these facilities and systems as well as various on-line services to electronic nomads working outside of the office. It is especially important to provide knowledge and skill trainings so that workers can fully utilize the electronic virtual office, and provide for a staff being able to offer on-line services to outside workers to deal with troubles and errors with their equipment and software. Security control both in physical and electronic spaces will be another critical issue due to the non-territorial environment. Fig.8 Support Services for Electronic Nomads
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