If 2020 has taught us anything, it\u2019s that you can\u2019t predict the future. After a year so full of plot twists and derailed plans, it\u2019s no wonder why you might ask yourself, \u2018Why would anyone try to make predictions about what the year 2021 has in store for us?\u2019 But this year has catalyzed a chain reaction of momentous changes in society and, therefore, the world of work \u2013 something that Poly knows a thing or two about.<\/p>\n
To address changes in the workplace, we put a call out to four Poly experts from different corners of the world to share their perspectives on how COVID-19 will continue to shape our present in a mostly pre-vaccine world, and what they expect will remain transformed well beyond the grips of the pandemic. Below are the responses from Carl Wiese, Chief Revenue Officer at Poly in North America, Vin La Rocca, Senior Vice President for North America, Pierre-Jean Ch\u00e2lon, Senior Vice President for Asia Pacific, and Paul Clark, Senior Vice President for EMEA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no question about whether hybrid working<\/a><\/span> \u2013 and everything that comes with it such as the flexibility of work practices, workspaces, and corporate cultures will continue to be embraced with open arms in 2021,\u201d explained Clark. Whether you work from a home office, an office building, or somewhere else, the challenge of keeping everyone connected was put to the test around the world this past year.<\/p>\n Ch\u00e2lon, shares, \u201cRemote working has long been thought of as the \u2018Wild West\u2019 of workstyles in some parts of the world.\u201d A model that only start-ups and small organizations adopted out of necessity due to the lack of a physical office. In the Asia Pacific region, this has held true primarily due to traditional Asian views that work must be done in an office. 2020 has normalized remote working and business leaders are now accepting that most people can do their work from anywhere. Ch\u00e2lon notes that \u201cin Singapore, employees and employers alike are happy about remote working arrangements<\/a><\/span>, and more recently, a growing number of banks have made flexible arrangements a permanent fixture<\/a><\/span> for their staff and we\u2019ll likely see more organizations across different industries following suit.\u201d<\/p>\n The considerable amount of effort applied by many HR departments toward building a \u2018people-first\u2019 culture in 2020 has been paving way for the future of work. To do this, they must address changes in the workplace and rethink how they attract talent. Wiese explains, \u201cCorporate perks will change \u2013 enticements to attract top talent will move from things like on-site gyms, daycare, and lunchrooms with free food to perks that are more relevant in a COVID to post-COVID work environment. Perks will look more like digital health and wellbeing services, such as subscriptions to apps for meditation, fitness, therapy, and more.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to talent acquisition and training, La Rocca adds, \u201cAcquiring, onboarding and educating employees are now done virtually with no geographical boundaries. The best firms will ensure their employees start on day one with the best remote working experience. While recruiting, smart use of technology will allow companies to come across as more vibrant and therefore will have an advantage when trying to attract the best of the best.<\/p>\n From a management perspective, Ch\u00e2lon puts forward the notion that the shift toward hybrid working will introduce greater autonomy for people and change the way teams are led. He believes, \u201cThe key to a successful hybrid workforce (or any relationship) is trust<\/em>. Business leaders and managers need to empower their teams with trust and confidence that they will be able to get things done with minimal oversight.\u201d When it comes to workspaces, Ch\u00e2lon predicts, \u201cOffices will shift from being the \u2018default\u2019 location of work to centralized workspaces geared towards collaboration.\u201d These workspaces will need to be designed with integrated touchless functionality and technology to cater to the increasing concerns around public safety and health. \u201cFrom sensors that track people density hotspots to air filtering technologies \u2013 these new additions will go a long way in helping workers feel more comfortable when returning to work,\u201d added Ch\u00e2lon.<\/p>\n To reinforce Ch\u00e2lon\u2019s outlook on workspaces, Wiese adds, \u201corganizations will focus on creating purposeful workspaces, being thoughtful about the design and use of different workspaces. Focusing on the reimagination of office design for innovation, collaboration, connection, and trust.\u201d With so many working from home, employers must ensure employees\u2019 home offices are conducive to individual work activities and virtual team coordination and collaboration.<\/p>\n Additionally, as companies continue to invest more in their employees\u2019 home offices in 2021, they will need to rethink how they use surplus office space and face the challenge of predicting how much office space they will need post-COVID. According to Wiese, we can expect organizations to repurpose that extra space to create inventive environments, \u201cwhether it\u2019s designing the lobby more like that of a hotel which doubles as a meeting space, a workplace featuring caf\u00e9-like gathering spaces, or an office designed with different \u2018zones\u2019 geared to different work activities.\u201d<\/p>\n For as far as you can look back, there has always been a degree of reliance on international travel for business. All this has changed with the onset of COVID-19 as nations limited travel \u2013 shifting the pendulum from \u2018location\u2019 to \u2018people\u2019 as businesses made use of technology to overcome distance. As a result, we\u2019ve witnessed a boom in the adoption of video, audio, and software services that will continue into next year. And according to Clark, \u201ceven if we are able to return to \u2018normal\u2019, business travel will not be exactly as it was before.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, video conferencing is the solution of choice for workforces looking for a richer way to engage and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders. Faster internet connectivity, improved video compression technology, and the roll-out of 5G have also made high-definition video a viable alternative to meeting in-person as it offers an immersive remote collaboration experience. These advancements were necessary as meeting via video became the norm for significant proportions of the global workforce in industries that previously had not used video in their operations. \u201cMore than ever, healthcare providers are turning to telehealth services powered by video conferencing technologies to meet the medical consultation needs of their patients and educators took to home-based teaching\u201d explained Ch\u00e2lon. Simply put, video has not just served as a temporary fix. Rather, it has unlocked more opportunities for these industries. Ch\u00e2lon predicts that the video adoption momentum will continue in 2021 and, \u201corganizations should look to enabling their workforce with the right tools and training to take advantage of these video platforms to improve employee and customer experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n La Rocca agrees that the increased use of video will not stop at private industry \u2013 he foresees the trend of meeting and working over video continuing to grow in the North American public sector. \u201cGovernment entities, healthcare providers, and educational institutions see the advantages of flexible work to ensure their constituents receive richer experiences and greater expertise through leveraging a better video experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Lastly and importantly, although video can surely help us all get work done collaboratively, some things can be lost in a remote working environment. These are those serendipitous, unplanned collisions that spark new ideas and build interpersonal connections. Wiese believes that organizations will need to \u201cproactively engineer moments of serendipity into remote work life\u201d and find new ways to \u2018plan for chance.\u2019<\/p>\n With people moving between the office and home, business continuity and individual preferences will finally be put at par when organizations are making purchasing decisions. Technology is increasingly being used across personal and professional life \u2013 resulting in an acute demand for individual preferences for comfort, features, and aesthetics. This individualization of technology will make the consumer more powerful and the industry will innovate around this demand. UC devices and software will become even easier to use and work-from-home kits will put home decors at the center of innovation. However, as Clark explains, \u201cThis doesn\u2019t mean that we will diverge from crafting the secure enterprise technology Poly is known for. Work-from-home kits will be enterprise-grade and technology for office buildings will see a similar rise in demand for individualization. More devices will talk to each other and software will be created for cross-industry compatibility.\u201d<\/p>\n As user\u2019s aesthetic preferences permeate the device market, Ch\u00e2lon predicts that the user\u2019s experience while working from home will matter more than ever \u2013 leading to a plethora of product features and service options. \u201cWith much of the workforce using video conferencing, we can expect greater demand for improvements and features that will increase their work productivity and efficiency.\u201d On the user\u2019s end of the call, Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) features for blocking out distracting background noise should already be the standard for headsets. Meanwhile, technologies like Poly Acoustic Fence provide the ability to improve the audio quality for the far-end of the call by preventing external noise (like your children yelling in the background) from bleeding into the call. \u201cLet\u2019s face it, this feature alone is likely worth its weight in gold for employees working from home alongside their families,\u201d added Ch\u00e2lon.<\/p>\nTREND 2: TRANSFORMATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND OFFICE SPACES<\/h4>\n
TREND 3: VIDEO IS THE WAY FORWARD<\/h4>\n
TREND 4: PROSUMER AT THE CENTER<\/h4>\n