KPMG test-runs mobile cubicles

First it was Macquarie Bank, then Microsoft, Jones Lang LaSalle, GPT Group and Goodman followed. More recently Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Yarra Valley Water joined in.

Now KPMG is getting in on one of the hottest trends in architectural circles: activity-based working (ABW). Instead of allocated seating and desktop computers, employees in an ABW organisations predominantly use mobile devices and are seated based on the activity or project they are working on at the time.

Consultant Philip Ross, chief executive of the Cordless Group and author of Activity-Based Working: The Hybrid Organisation, says work is "becoming a process, not a place". He predicts the death of the individual desk and desk phone.

In order to keep pace with clients, attract a broader set of employees and mitigate the pain of the daily commute, KPMG has begun a pilot ABW on one floor of its Shelley Street office in Sydney. Groups of about 80 employees will work in the ABW space for four months at a time to test the approach and discover optimal working patterns.

"We are testing and extending a whole range of our own technologies to support that," KPMG digital economy partner Malcolm Alder said.

"We have been progressively expanding a whole range of tools from our internal social-media platform to crowd-sourcing ideas internally on behalf of clients, which is really taking off.

"We have also expanded our range of telepresence facilities between our major offices, which are booked solid, to increasingly using office meeting and virtual environments for people in multiple locations."

If the pilot is successful, KPMG will adopt the new way for its new office at Barangaroo when it opens in 2016.

Mr Alder said it was critical to get the technology right so clients and staff experienced no disruption.

"It is rather like your first experience with online shopping for fresh groceries," he said. "If this stuff lobs up on your doorstep and there is one rotten pear in there, it'll be a long time before you go back."