Trends of
the future

  • Many forces other than the COVID-19 pandemic are impacting the business world, but it’s clear that the pandemic is forcing change at an exponential rate. BCG research has set forth the view that there are already two key underlying trends shaping the workplace of the future:

    1. Pervasive technology and data: Organizations are seeing new technologies emerge across all parts of an organization, with technology deeply embedded into the business. Technology is essentially “no longer a separate, independent, and siloed entity”

    2. Talent in the digital age: The talent pool has changed. Candidates have new expectations on engagement, tools and flexibility, meaning talent models need to be adjusted; and organizations will require different skill sets to be successful in the future—with strong technology underpinnings

    The additional remote working model trend (as shared in our first article of this series) will complicate the shaping of the future workplace even further. 

    Business leaders need to consider how they can leverage technology as an enabler to support remote working, but also acknowledge that their future organizational state will—out of necessity—need to be more organic and flexible than in recent years.

  • "Work” needs to be robust enough to function—but organizations must also reflect upon the distinct qualities that have made work efficient during our current crisis.


  • “Work” needs to be robust enough to function—but organizations must also reflect upon the distinct qualities that have made work efficient during our current crisis, which includes flexible working models, speed of decision-making, collaboration and (most importantly) human interaction, all supported by technology. But, underlying these qualities are human capabilities, and for organizations to make the most of the technological opportunities in the digital age, they must ensure they intertwine new technologies with these capabilities to power growth, innovation, efficiency, resilience and advantage. 

    As such, we’re really looking at transitioning to a bionic organization where technology and data fuse with humanity. And the most important thing to remember is that people are literally the body of organizations—in their transformation journey, organizations need the connective tissue that allows people and technology to work seamlessly, and business leaders to lead their people through this transformation in a clear and purposeful fashion.
     

  • We’ve been working with our clients to think about what digital transformation will look like for several years already—and there’s always been a hesitation about a remote work model. But now that’s all changed. If I think about our own business, we’ve moved customer care, sales, finance, HR, marketing, just about every role we have, to a work-from-home model. Many Verizon employees are working successfully from home today. It’s clear that we, and indeed all organizations, now have a major opportunity to rethink how we do business. The question is, what is the right balance between onsite and remote working models? And if teams move to working from home, can they do so effectively? It’s not just about enabling employees with technology, it’s also about their overall work environment, health and safety, building a sense of teamwork, and much more.
    —Tami Erwin, CEO, Verizon Business