The step changes in our economic reality caused by the pandemic led to a mega-trend relating to remote working and productivity enabled by the powerful modern Internet and smart solutions now available.
Remote working is an effective and productive model for employees with many organisations re-evaluating their operational models to embed a more sustainable and permanent approach to hybrid work.
The reality is that the hybrid model that has defied the perception that employees take advantage or don’t do their jobs properly. Instead, it has translated into considerable savings on real estate rental and maintenance costs as well as having a positive effect on societal issues such as road congestion and pollution.
Agility, cost-efficiency and security are critical to ensuring that the distributed workforce enjoys an enterprise-grade experience, consistently. This introduces advanced collaboration, document sharing and remote engagement tools that connect people across multiple locations and continents.
This has been a step change in the future of technology which necessitates in a change in the way we think about IT. Technology leaders have become the masters of change and are directing their attention toward the following 4 angles:
A strategic review of their technology stack
Now, when CIOs think about architecting the future, it is about things like the cloud and security, governance, document and records management, compliance and productivity of the remote worker.
Businesses are going beyond technology and making sure people can really leverage it to the benefit of themselves and the business. Smart productivity indicators and digital assistants are showing individuals how to use workplace analytics to understand their pain points and their potential.
A rapid application development environment has evolved to build custom apps for an organisation’s business needs. These apps can be delivered to remote users through existing platforms like the Intranet, making the whole digital working environment more effective and quickly responsive to the employees’ needs.
The democratisation of technology
As businesses are becoming increasingly digital and every employee needs to be fluent in technology. Software developers like Microsoft are investing millions of dollars into the end user experience in our digital workplace.
The importance of Security
Closely linked to the democratisation of the employee is the question of security. The global pandemic hit every business, network and individual, hard. It caused a surge in cybercrime and malware infections with the average monthly infection rate increasing by almost 30% in the following months.
Security systems and organisations and well into the Internet of Things (IoT) landscape have seen an escalation with infections rising significantly during the year.
It has become critical for individuals and organisations to recognise the risks, to protect their data, and to pay attention to their online behaviour. Many vulnerabilities exploited are because of user error.
The actual attack vectors have also evolved with a clear trend towards information theft and spyware. This is largely due to the exceptional circumstances introduced by the pandemic. Phishing campaigns clearly became the best way to deliver malware straight to the user.
The people part
What is becoming clear is that employee’s roles in the success of the modern workspace are paramount and that one of the most important functions of IT is change management, training and adoption.
It’s the future of human empowerment and human potential working with technology in a new way – solving some of the big problems that are intrinsic in the world today. Our ICT Strategy requires a radical rethink.
People are critical to maximising your return on investment in software. Their behaviour will determine the success or failure of your software investment.
About Digital Bridges
Established in 2007 by Kate Elphick, Digital Bridges provides:
• Management Consulting – optimising your business through using the power of technology;
• Cross-Functional Business Analysis Business Cases, User Requirements, Functional Specifications and Implementation Strategies;
• End-user Cyber Security Training Programmes including creating a Cyber Security Culture;
• Change Management and Technology Adoption, uniquely formulated for your organisation to improve the return on your technology investments;
• Digital Footprint Management, Social Media Custody, Maintenance and Reporting, Policies;
• Analytics and Data Narration for actionable insights into your data and digital footprint.
For more information, please see www.Digital-Bridges.co.za or contact Kate@Digital-Bridges.co.za
