The Future Of Work – Delivering a Modern Workspace

Future of Work guest post By Francis O’Haire, Group Technology Director, DataSolutions.

We are all painfully aware of how the current climate of lockdown, and working from home for a large majority, has focussed the conversations within the technology community regarding the pros and cons of remote working.

And whilst we can assume that relocating to a ‘home office’ will become de-facto for many people over the coming months, remote working needs bigger picture thinking with respect to how organisations need to be delivering IT in the future, regardless of the current situation. After all, remote working is only one of the areas that a modern workspace technology delivers. Let’s take a closer look.

A complex and moving feast

IT at work is becoming more complex than ever, involving legacy apps, web apps, cloud apps, mobile apps and with data spread across files shares, databases, collaboration tools and clouds.  How can anyone find anything? It is thought that employees on average spend almost 10 hours per week searching for the information they need (roughly 20% of their time).

Advancements in technology are rapidly transforming the modern workplace – everything from tablets and smartphones through to software such as video conferencing tools allowing for remote employees to be able to work together in ‘virtual’ offices. Automation too will transform the nature of many job roles.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is widely expected to impact upon customer services, helping customers by using a combination of voice and context recognition – perhaps completely removing the need for human involvement. Business intelligence will also provide valuable assistance; on the one hand helping organisations with customer insight, and on the other, allowing employees to focus on transformative business innovation.

Security headaches

Securing this ever more distributed IT environment and user base across a growing array of devices is becoming impossible. We have already witnessed the widespread adoption of cloud computing. This uprooted the almost ancient, on-premise and centralised corporate data centre model for computing. Under these new conditions, we find IT resources, applications and data widely distributed among corporate data centres, cloud providers, branch offices and across international borders.

Cloud and solution architects will play an essential role in designing and deploying the ‘best’ type and location of cloud resources. And, critically, they need to do this in conjunction with data security teams so that application and data assets are fully protected.

Also, many workers, especially the younger generations, are aware of the good user experience they get from consumer mobile and cloud applications and are wanting the same from corporate IT.  They will often resort to these un-sanctioned consumer-grade applications when IT does not deliver the functionality or user experience they need to be productive – with little concern for security.

Employee engagement and growth

Delivering a good experience from corporate IT is critical to retaining talent, maximising productivity/innovation and for optimising employee satisfaction. Indeed, according to historical employee engagement assessments by Gallup, companies with engaged employees can be over 20% more productive than those without.

Effective internal communication, which involves making sure that employees have easy access to the right information and resources when they need them, is the cornerstone of employee experience. And if you also factor in that some organisations are still using old-fashioned intranets to develop their internal communication then it’s easy to understand why employee frustration can rise – information needs to be able to flow freely.

As an example, a study by the Content Marketing Institute found that 42% of companies didn’t have the right technology to manage content across their organisations – very frustrating from a Marketing point of view.

And as we see so-called, workplace burnout getting more attention, is it possible that more technology could actually provide the answers for chronic workplace stress?

Organisations should be striving to use the appropriate technology in order to improve communication throughout their businesses. When you have deployed efficient internal communications, employees are able to see how their contributions impact on the company’s overall success – it gives them a positive sense of involvement.

The environment in which businesses operate (that is to say new technologies, new platforms etc) is set to continue evolving at a relentless pace. But human nature will not necessarily keep up at the same rate – corporate IT needs to understand this and adapt accordingly.

A secure digital workspace

If corporate applications and data are provided to workers through a device and location independent Secure Digital Workspace, then the fact that it enables “work from home” is just a bonus. As work becomes increasingly mobile, a secure digital workspace gives employees added agility without turning them into security risks.

The future of work offers unparalleled opportunities but also poses significant challenges. Technological progress will have a profound impact on society and how we all work. It is crucial therefore that IT policies help workers at large to manage the transition with a minimum of disruption, whilst maximising all of the potential benefits.