If last year’s new normal made offices massively adopt remote working, what would be the look of working in 2021? Will work-of-home be the new norm? Will offices still matter?
We are still in the phase of trying which strategies will work best. But if there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s the need for organizations to rethink how they operate. Instead of focusing on equipping the office to be spic and span, leaders must focus on keeping a good connection with its people.
To help organizations on what to expect in the coming year, Samir Sayed, Managing Director, ASEAN and Korea, Poly, shares insight on the 6 key trends that will shape the future of work in 2021.
- Hybrid Work is here to stay
Work is not a place, it’s what you do. Work is no longer defined by the hours you put in or an attendance check several times a day, but on the outcome of the work and seeing that things are getting accomplished in or ahead of time. With this, hybrid work model will still prevail, and people will still mostly work wherever.
- Anything-as-a-service will drive business agility
Digital transformation will be fuelled by XAAS, or Anything-As-A-Service. This is an adaptation of the digital services subscription model, as providers shift to providing value as a service. This lets businesses introduce and scale deployments as needed, providing the agility to continue to work seamlessly and without disruption.
- The rise of the Prosumer
Employees have realized that consumer-grade gears simply cannot deliver. They need quality technologies that will allow them to work seamlessly. Organizations should consider investing in their employees’ gears, perhaps a stable net connection, noise-blocking headsets, or video conferencing solution for their meetings.
- Transformation of the office
Instead of being the place for work, offices will more likely to become a gathering point for employees to meet, while majority of work will be done remotely.
- Video is the way forward
Thanks to technological advances in the past few years, collaboration thru video is now on a whole new level, catering industries such as telemedicine and education where video is critical to continue business-as-usual and at the same time, adapt a whole new way of doing it.
- Connectivity to drive better collaboration experiences
Businesses will look to technologies like 5G to drive a better collaboration experience through seamless connectivity, as if in person. Digital transformation efforts will also see an increase in focus on technology that adapts more seamlessly to the end-user.