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| Source: SAP Concur. Lucier. |
"Yet it can be difficult for employers, who face cost, policy, and other roadblocks, to keep up. At the same time, it is important to make the investment because employee satisfaction and retention are critical."
Lucier predicted that 2020 will see more organisations gather data on the user experiences of their employees and use it to improve productivity, human resources, travel, expense, and other technologies.
"They will begin selecting solutions which leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to improve those experiences...The range of possibilities is huge, but the common denominator comes down to better employee experiences with office tech."
Talent management transforms
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| Source: Ramco Systems. SivaSubramanian. |
"Millennials value more work-life balance, quick integration with work culture and less ‘boring’ corporate functions. AI/ML, natural language processing, and chatbots can help win over Millennials while improving workplace productivity," SivaSubramanian suggested.
"Outlook Calendar-based transactions is another trend that’s picking up momentum – enabling Millennials to carry out transactions like timesheet booking, leave, travel, and expense management," he added.
Michael Koetting, Chief Product Strategy Officer, SAP Concur, said that Millennials are instinctively comfortable using AI. As consumers, they are more likely to approve of AI-provided customer support, automated product recommendations, and even want AI to enhance their experience watching sports," he said.
"Millennials and others will increasingly bring their consumer preferences for AI to work and expect that routine tasks can be automated. We’re already seeing this today, as a growing number of employees are using AI to sort and forward emails, proofread documents, schedule meetings, and build custom workflows. This trend will lead to many benefits, including higher productivity and more economic activity.
"Employers will need to lean into this shift, supporting those employees who want to use automation to be more productive, helping others understand the benefits, and providing support to those who need help learning to use it.
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| Source: SolarWinds. Adato. |
Service-driven economies and “in-the-moment” decision-making mean that the composition of C-suites are changing, says Leon Adato, Head Geek, SolarWinds.
“We’re seeing a shift away from boardrooms dominated by legacy executives as leadership becomes more encompassing of the skillsets needed to achieve success in today’s technology-driven economies,” he said.
The office structure will change
Virtual meetings are as common as in-person ones today, said Darren Bauer Kahan, Senior VP of Development, SAP Concur. "People feel less tethered to a traditional office and want the ability to work from home, a coffee shop, a library, or a park (or all of the above, depending on the day)," he noted.
"In 2020, especially in cities known as tech hubs, these developments will lead to noticeable changes in office spaces. I like to call the trend 'colocation with a purpose'. More office spaces will be designed to be flexible: open-space hubs to host teams coming together for shorter-term projects, touch-down spaces for work-from-home employees or those visiting from distant home bases, plentiful conference rooms for more confidential work, and easily-available focus rooms for introverts and others who need an occasional alternative to open spaces. These are spaces ready to be used for a variety of important purposes and reconfigured as needs change."
Pierre-Jean Chalon, SVP, APAC, Poly, says that the number of offices designed with huddle-room concepts will surpass those based on traditional boardrooms.
“The younger generation workforce’s love for the open office will force the management’s hand to rethink how the modern workplace will look like, and huddle rooms will no longer be a good-to-have but a must-have for organisations in order to help these employees remain productive away from distractions,” he explained.
According to Chalon, huddle rooms typically accommodate up to six people. “When outfitted with the right technology, (they) can spur high energy interactions – perfect for the modern workforce that needs to be agile and highly collaborative,” he observed.
Technology will evolve
Nigel Thompson, VP, Product Marketing, BlackBerry said that while interaction with devices is all about touch today, voice will be the way we interact tomorrow. "We're seeing a lot of interactions now happening through the voice," he said.
"People want to say 'hey, when is my next meeting, schedule a time with so-and-so'".
Securing natural language processing will be the next frontier, he said. "The secure connection to the enterprise is really not a problem and then executing those commands isn't really a problem," he explained.
"The challenge for voice is that we know how to solve a direct secure connection from the hardware to the enterprise. The trick is the voice command, you could say that the voice command typically is pretty benign like 'when is my next meeting with the kids'.. but if it's 'schedule a board meeting for M&A activity with vendor A and vendor B', that's a problem for our customers."
Thompson added that a stamp of approval will also be needed to prove that the hardware itself is trusted.
Businesses will demand higher-quality videoconferencing, Chalon said.
“4K videoconferencing will be the gold standard for businesses looking for face-time with business partners and employees over long distances and timezones,” he predicted.
“While current videoconferencing technology has proved to be remarkably effective in connecting people across the globe for simple collaboration purposes, the quality and capabilities of many current solutions fall short of expectations, especially for those used to high-speed, high-resolution video in an always-connected age.,” Chalon explained.
Chalon also said that there is rising demand for easier-to-use, platform-agnostic, standalone communication devices. “At the end of the day, technology should simply work behind the scenes, and need not get in the way of getting things done.
“With 5G networks coming into the mainstream, we will soon see many applications starting to take advantage low-latency bandwidth that 5G brings to the table, enabling videoconferencing vendors to finally bring 4K-quality streams into the mix, and finally enabling organisations to collaborate over distances as if face-to-face,” he concluded.
Biometrics will also change the workplace in 2020, said SivaSubramanian. "2020 will see significant workplace adoption of facial recognition, especially for customer-centric and cybersecurity functions. Enterprises which adopt this capability, especially those with sizeable workforces, will reduce if not eliminate the tedium of keeping track of employees," he predicted.
"It will also solve many issues related to password and access cards, saving even more time and costs." Adding facial recognition software with breathalyser support can provide real-time tracking of employees/factory workers to identify alcohol or substance abuse, SivaSubramanian added.
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| Source: Citrix. Pavan. |
“When employees are technologically empowered, they deliver better results. The study found that having ready access to the data and insights that employees need to do their job does more to influence employee engagement and productivity, and ultimately their overall experience, than other technology factors,” he disclosed.
“In the future, we are likely to see a closer bond forged between humans and computers, which will dramatically impact the way we work for the better. Advancement in analytics, machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality and automation have also provided the genesis for the concept of a 'digital twin', where individuals in an organisation will have a virtual likeness, or entity, that increasingly augments and automates mundane aspects of work, freeing precious personal cycles to focus on innovation and push growth.”
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| Source: Cisco. Hariharan S. |
“This effectively compounds the value that AI brings to the business. These organisations are also three times more confident about handling market uncertainty. The differentiator AI brings to companies will continue to grow, as highly-skilled employees will get used to offloading repetitive tasks to an AI-powered digital agent that takes notes, follows up on action items, gathers background information and starts meetings.
Chalon's advice for businesses:
· Create a clear path and plan to workplace transformation
“Nothing demoralises the troops like a leader who doesn’t have a clue,” he said.
· Involve employees in the planning and execution process
“You can’t expect employees to immediately get the big picture of what you’re trying to do. Getting your team to buy in to the process is half the battle won,” he said.
· Leverage technology not just to improve operational matters, but also to augment the skills and capabilities of your people.
“After all, you want to be sure that the technology you want can and will help your people get things done,” he said.
*The study investigated the importance of the employee experience and the role of IT in driving greater engagement and productivity across the globe. The research showed that across geographies and industry sectors, many companies are recognising that a better employee experience can lead directly to improved business results.
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