If the office is no longer the ‘cure all’ – what does the future of work look like?
Kristine Dahl Steidel, VP End User Computing, EMEA, VMware
The way we work forever changed in 2020, with the traditional office for organizations across the globe no longer being the work panacea. But the conversation about working from home is not a new frontier. So, what has really changed in boardrooms and HR departments that for the first time feels like there is a real sense that the future of work – the one we have all been talking about – has arrived?
A global pandemic has, of course, been that forcing function. And while there is no arguing the impact of this deadly virus has caused chaos and uncertainty in the world of business, it has also created the best laboratory to test the case for new ways of working. And, the experiment has worked. Millions of employees have been redeployed to their homes with laptops, iPads, apps, security devices and the internet, and found ways to remain working, collaborate and be productive literally overnight. And over the course of the year, more and more planning has been put in, and more technologies deployed, to make this ‘distributed working’ work even better.
For some businesses this has been an easier project than for others, and there are many reasons for this. But it is the future that is most important. The experiment has proven that the ‘office’ is not the total story of work. Indeed, the distributed ‘anywhere workforce’ has become a model for the future. If you have the applications, you need to do the job you are employed to do. You have a place to work – HQ, home, satellite office or café, or a combination of all. You have a management structure that makes you feel valued, visible and productive. Then the ‘anywhere workforce’ has the opportunity to become more of a ‘cure all’.
So, what next?
One of the global authorities on the digital workplace, Stuart Downes, Senior Director Analyst, Digital Workplace Infrastructure at Gartner, will be providing the keynote. He will be sharing his world-leading expert insights on changing workforce trends as well as the practical steps businesses can take to successfully manage a distributed ‘anywhere’ workforce.
You will also have front-row seats to our panel, featuring University of Oxford Fellow Dr. Frey, Director of Future of Work Program. Author of The Technology Trap, selected as a Financial Times’ Best Books of 2019, Dr Frey has also served as an advisor and consultant to organizations, including the G20, the OECD, the European Commission, the United Nations, and several Fortune 500 companies.
We are all seeking an answer to the big question: Is the ‘anywhere workforce’ a reality?
Register for our Digital Workspace Analyst Series on February 9th if you would like to know how the leading experts answer this, as well as:
- How businesses are changing their culture, structure and technology to create a distributed working model.
- The role of digital workspace technologies in enabling change.
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