Company Net – Experts in Microsoft

A vital consideration while painting our picture of the 2020 workplace is, of course, the location and needs of our future workforce. The Cisco Connected World Report 2010 found that employees expect greater mobility in the workplace. 3 in 5 employees believe they don’t have to be in the office to be productive and, despite the current downturn in the economy, they value flexibility over salary – all else being equal, 2 in 3 would accept a lower paying job with more work flexibility.

So how does this translate into the business landscape of the future? Firstly, it is a logical inference that removing the requirement for all staff to be physically present in the office massively opens up employability, allowing your business to really focus on capturing the very best skills available – on a talent, as opposed to geographical, basis. This has great implications for wider society, from increasing employability in remote areas such as parts of the Highlands, to increasing employment for the disabled or allowing parents full access to work without the burden of finding and paying for child care. Furthermore, with continually rising fuel costs your employees may be less likely to want to commute to the workplace fulltime. These factors may already be contributing to a rise in virtual offices and co-working spaces.

The implications of remote working on the environment are significant – imagine the impact fewer people working 9 to 5 could have in alleviating rush hour congestion, greatly reducing the number of cars on the road emitting greenhouse gases. And a study by Giritech and BT Conferencing found that the overall energy savings gained by working from home total approximately 20%. In addition to this, new technologies such as the Cloud, which allows remote access to data, promote cost savings for your business by reducing in-house storage and facility requirements, in addition to increasing workforce mobility and flexibility.

Consider also the potential financial savings to your organisation in scaling back business travel in favour of video conferencing and improved communication channels. Gone are the days of a single video conferencing screen in the boardroom, now technology such as Microsoft’s Lync allows us to conference from every connected PC or laptop, without having to worry about the cost of a third-party conference provider or long-distance charges. Using platforms such as SharePoint for collaboration and taking advantage of cloud-based tools like Office 365 could revolutionise the way you interact with colleagues and clients, be they working from home, in the next office or on the other side of the world.

The best way to get ready for tomorrow is to start today. Think about how you could help your staff to work more flexibly. Can they access documents securely from outside the office? What technologies can you put in place to allow for better communication and collaboration? And how might the wider use of video conferencing and reduction in business travel impact your organisation?

So with any luck, the next time you hear the infamous and inevitable phrase “ash cloud” when you’re planning a conference with faraway clients, it might strike a little less fear into your heart!