In 2019, 19% of employees around the world teleworked. At the end of 2021, the figure rose to 32%. This small work boom, which has continued into 2022, has seen PC and tablet sales exceed 500 million units for the first time in history. However, the effect is not only seen in sales but in people and how they relate to the work environment. Keep reading the following article to learn more about the trends that mark and have marked the new era of online work.
The new reality of remote work
What for many was once a kind of utopian dream or whim has come true: telematic work is now part of the normality and works routine of many people. Situation to which the pandemic has led us in order to avoid contagion, but which, in turn, has meant a before and after in the way we understand work, both workers and companies. So much so that some businesses are considering establishing remote work as a preferred or only option.
Remote work is not something new. However, it was unexpectedly needed by an event that had a global impact. Many companies saw the need to go digital in order not only to protect their collaborators but also to safeguard the health of their customers and address mobility restrictions.
Benefits of remote work
Several people have found that their productivity and efficiency levels have improved during their approach to working remotely. According to a study conducted by Microsoft, in which 3,600 employees from 36 cities around the world participated. 41% of workers said they are satisfied with remote work and another 15% considered that this type of work method is positive and would like to join their company.
In addition to the aforementioned, we have great benefits:
1.- Time saving
2.- Improvement in the quality of life
3.- Cost savings
4.- Reduces pollution and improves the environment
Telecommuting will change the way we buy and use technology
This trend of remote work will also mean that, until 2024, organizations will be forced to advance digital transformation plans by at least five years; strategies that, in addition, will have to "adapt to a post-COVID-19 world that implies a greater and permanent adoption of remote work and digital contact points," according to Atwal.
This scenario will require companies and public entities to make a continuous investment in technologies that facilitate remote work and in others related to hyper-automation, artificial intelligence, and collaboration.
This rise in the hybrid workforce will continue to increase the demand for PCs and tablets. In fact, this year the sales of these teams will exceed 500 million units for the first time in history. Other items will also grow, with global end-user spending on public cloud services increasing by more than 23% this year, as CIOs continue to prioritize applications delivered in such environments. For its part, the global market for social and collaboration software will increase by more than 17% this year.
On the network side, by 2024, according to the analytics firm, at least 40% of all remote access users will be predominantly served by zero-trust network access (ZTNA), up from less than 5 % by the end of 2020. Although most of these organizations will not completely retire all of their customer-facing VPN services, ZTNA will become the main replacement technology.
What trends characterize this new way of working?
Hybrid work
Following an IDC study for Latin America, remote or hybrid work will be incorporated or expanded in more than 68% of organizations within their Human Resources policy, thus positioning itself as the strongest trend due to the fact that the increase in efficiency and productivity of local and global work teams. Likewise, the monetary and time costs of moving to an office or meeting place have been reduced; This implies an increase in the quality of life of employees by reducing their levels of stress and fatigue with more flexible work schedules.
E-commerce
The second trend that is projected is the increase in e-commerce and the gradual disappearance of physical commerce. Last year, globally, e-commerce grew at up to five times the rate recorded before the pandemic.
With this, the study indicates that by 2030 there will be new jobs in the telemedicine, digital banking, and streaming entertainment sectors, adjusting to the new market dynamics, and transforming the productive roles in the chain.
ICT use
A third trend will lean towards the increased use of Information and Communication Technologies, since, according to said study, the supply chain will diversify to act in the face of crisis or unforeseen situations with greater agility in more than 62%. of businesses, while more than 60 percent will implement touchless and automated operating models to deliver more effective responses for customers and vendors.
Videoconferences
Recent research highlights that, in the coming years, meetings will include video as a standard measure to encourage collaboration between people who are in person in offices and remote participants. In this sense, the ability to share content in an accessible, visible, and interactive way from anywhere in the world will be positioned as another trend that will have to be implemented in offices.
Industry automation
The third and last of the projected trends is the automation of production chains and the immersion of artificial intelligence in the market. By 2020, it is estimated that two-thirds of global organizations have increased investment in automation and artificial intelligence.
This could generate a migration of human capital towards other areas of performance and new academic training.
Digital training
For the specialist, entrepreneurs of startups or SMEs must continue training and make an effort to understand issues such as big data, artificial intelligence, automation, and others that make up digital transformation.
“Small entrepreneurs and startups shouldn't have any problems, since it is no longer necessary to have the technical training to learn about technological solutions. And we can see this with the number of webinars, courses, or conferences that exist in the market and that will be able to satisfy your learning needs”, she said.
At the same time, she considered that in 2022 the adoption of digitization and migration to the cloud will remain a trend.
Diversity Approach
Employers will increasingly invest in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) as part of workplace trends in 2022. And much of this investment will shift from goal setting and transparency to action and accountability. of counts.
In 2020, many employers set very ambitious goals around DE&I, and that generated a lot of goodwill from employees and society. But that goodwill will only last with employer action. Many employees still have questions about their perceptions of their employer's commitment to DE&I.
In 2022, employers will need to commit more to share data and progress on their DE&I goals. This can help guide companies down the path to accountability and ultimately help drive progress and level up the conversation. Exposing progress can create a pool of data and a mutual language for people to use to talk about DE&I efforts in the future.
