How technology and automation are transforming collaboration during WFH?

Technology has been an important part of our life and workforce, for a decent amount of time now. Businesses looked at technology as a helpful means of engaging with customers, allowing some workplace flexibility, and as a way to introduce automation and faster processes. The novel coronavirus and the shutdown of in-person meetings for non-essential businesses accelerated these adoptions immensely. The pandemic has forced companies to investigate creative digital solutions so that the organizations could continue to function remotely and continue to run their businesses.

The graph on the left depicts interest in term remote workers over a period of time. As evident, it moved from being almost irrelevant to a sustained level of relevancy post pandemic, thus reflecting a shift in dynamics of how future work will be performed. This is further corroborated by a Gartner report stating that around 80% of organizations worldwide made it mandatory for workers to work from their homes during the pandemic. Another survey conducted by PwC says that 78% of digital decision-makers have agreed to let remote working continue even well after the pandemic is over. These decisions result in a spread of digital transformation and ultimately, a rise in the use of remote working technology.

Although the prioritization of remote work has had undeniable positive effects, like an increase in overall individual responsiveness, the ability to leverage resources from any geographic location, and more worker flexibility, new unanticipated challenges mushroomed too. Employee fatigue has risen dramatically, impacting worker well-being. Remote workers are 2.5 times more likely to suffer productivity decline due to digital distractions, 1.2 times more likely to suffer virtual overload, and 1.3 times more likely to remain “always-on,” struggling to disconnect from work more than their onsite peers.

Some of the most common themes that have emerged due to new ways of working are as follows

•  How do we improve employee collaboration in the hybrid and remote workplace?
•  How to address business-critical functions with remote work become the new normal?
•  What technology options are available to provide resiliency and quality of service (QoS)?
•  Who is responsible for operational support?
•  How can we utilize technology to improve employee well-being?

Another data point to consider is regarding digital transformation. The movement on left shows how this topic has gathered mainstream attention and has got high relevance in the post-pandemic era. Next, we see what are the top active trends that are framing the digital transformation strategy for future work collaboration. About 70% of all companies worldwide have a digital transformation strategy or are already working on one. Companies all over the world are investing more into digital transformation now. During the pandemic, it has been estimated that while 52% of companies were ready to cut down on their spending, just a mere 9% considered cutting the cost for digital transformation. Digital solutions are expected to grow and are estimated to reach a valuation of a whopping $3,294 billion by 2025.

Top active trends comprising an effective digital transformation for remote workers

1. AI-driven personal assistants and micro-app integration to modernize mundane tasks Technology & automation are acting as catalyst for the power shift from traditional office-centric design to a greater emphasis on human-centric approaches to managing worker productivity. There has been a great improvement in user productivity using technology utilizing AI-driven personal assistants and micro-app integration to modernize mundane tasks like expenses.
2. Workflow automation and business process optimization through Robotic Process Automation

Office suites have transformed traditional intranets and portals into interactive interfaces that also provide workflow automation and business process optimization through Robotic Process Automation (RPA).

Use of Digital Collaboration tools

Digital collaboration through tools such as Miro or Mural has replaced physical materials and enabled non-verbal digital collaboration opportunities that can help have effective virtual meetings and workshops. Taking technology further in the future we would see metaverse virtual worlds with an emphasis on important elements such as the digital economy, block-chain, and social events providing virtual social arenas.

Automation- No more a thing to cost cutting

Automation holds tremendous potential for companies, helping to manage everything from inventory to email subscription lists. While many organizations have already begun to see the power of automation in running their organizations, a growing number of companies have been forced by this pandemic to change their perspective and understand the power that this technology can offer them.

What Could this Mean for Organizations and their Culture?

Whilst we will be able to innovate and be creative on making our home new workplace, the long-term impact on brand and culture needs to be assessed. It is yet not clear how this gets impacted as new workforce joins and tries to embrace organizations virtually. It has not been uncommon to conduct large virtual webinar outreaches but they always had the backup of human connective tissue in office. The efficacy of remote work management aided by technology is fuzzy in context to growth cycle of the business. Thus, evolution will have to be done carefully basis what stage a business is at and the maturity level of workforce. We have already seen huge concerns around moon-lighting by various companies drawing flak but at the same, it is evident that we have a divided camp on the topic of future of virtual work in context to what the organizations stand for and consider right for its business model.

With regard to this, I believe culture still comes first and has to be preserved at all times. Remote working is a major tool as we are on our way of defining new work culture, of course, aided with technology. However, as companies continue to strategize and implement new plans for 2022, let’s also remember that remote work arrangements are not a quick fix for broken or ineffective organizational strategies. By focusing on creating a culture of excellence, appreciation, clear communication, and learning, companies can use remote work as a complementary tool (a strong one though) to enable the sort of flexibility that helps organizations to flourish and generate value.

Final Thought

Technology offers businesses across industries incredible potential to engage with people around the world. Before the pandemic, many organizations were just beginning to see the potential that many of these capabilities offered their businesses. However, when in-person meetings and work were limited in response to Covid-19, they quickly realized just how powerful technology could be. Empowering a remote workforce to collaborate more effectively through technology is the key to increasing productivity. This is the truth which is better for all, sooner it is accepted and executed.

Authored By: Abhishek Dwivedi, VP, Technology, Vista (A Cimpress Business)