flexiDesk, LifeStyle, Popular

Calling all life-slicers!

A few months ago I was introduced to a new term: “life-slicing”.

One of our team showed me a video of Mark Templeton, the CEO of Citrix (technology giants), talking at one of their conferences earlier this year about the changing paradigm in working.  He used this pie chart to represent the way in which one’s day was split up into personal and work segments.  He went onto explain that the way computing has been done for the last 25 years does not meet or match this changing paradigm.

When I heard this talk, it was like an eyewash moment – all of a sudden it became clear that that was exactly my experience of work and life.

In other words, my work life was interspersed with personal bits, and my personal life was interspersed with work bits.

I termed this realization an “eyewash moment” because with recognition of this fact came the refreshing sensation that it was actually ok to be this way.  That I was part of a paradigm shift.  I was a “life-slicer”. One of many.  It suited my life, my business’s and my family’s needs right now.

So few days after watching Mark Templeton’s presentation, I was leaving the office mid-afternoon for a personal commitment.   “I’m off”, I said, “I’m contactable” and then, with relish “ I’m life-slicing!” (it was said tongue-in-cheek admittedly).  To which someone replied “Oooh! Sounds painful!”.

But here’s the thing.  Actually it isn’t painful.  Or it doesn’t need to be.  It has never been less painful to life-slice. Because of tools!  Microsoft’s Office 365 possibly being the best known right now.  As life-slicing is enabled, enterprises become decentralized.

The big corporates have already grabbed this – they are the first to embrace and promote this trend.   Only yesterday I was talking to our Commercial Manager from HSBC, and it emerged she is one of us.  A life-slicer!  Her company  have enabled this using cloud technology. So she can work from anywhere, on any device using an internet connection.

Well, it’s alright for the big corporates who have the knowhow and the money to set up this kind of thing, but what about the rest of us.  Well, that’s where 404’s flexiDesk® comes in,  using  this self same technology to offer virtual desktops on a per month per user basis.  So now everyone can life-slice and work from anywhere on any device.

On a personal note, I have to say the 404 flexiDesk has been my best friend in life-slicing.   I thought I had it going for me when I got a smartphone (so I could send and receive emails on the hoof), but a virtual desktop like flexiDesk is the whole enchilada.

Anyway, to wind up, before I jump into a personal slice of the day, if you now see yourself as a life-slicer, or you can identify potential life-slicers in your organization, my advice to you, is don’t fight it, it’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Give us a call – we can make this work for you!

Jo Radcliffe

Co-Founder of 404 team Ltd who is passionate about bringing colour, clarity and budget-ability to businesses' experience of IT.