Beyond Remote: The workplace of the future

By Chidambaram Ganapathi

The pandemic will pass, but it has set a definitive tone of how work, workforce and workplaces will look like in the new normal. The future is getting constructed not just on enabling hybrid workplaces, but also on creating social capital and forward-pondering leadership. All this backed by timely investments in appropriate technologies and practices.

This has meant a redefinition of management practices, laying higher focus on social, emotional and cultural parameters which can make or break the efficacy of the hybrid work models. As enterprises in India scramble to adapt, several elements have come into play, dictating the level of adoption, the influence on productivity and company continuity.

The future of workplace
The changeable set-ups of now, can not be addressed by a regular plug and play remedy, as the workplaces of this future do not match one mold. The hybrid workplaces bridge the chasm amongst the physical and digital and every thing in amongst. This offers tremendous prospective to the workplaces which have come to be more fluid, shaping themselves organically as per the requirement of the organisation, the project, the workers. Workplaces have come to be multifunctional and elastic entities enabling minimal occupancy however enabling maximum collaboration, supplying possibilities to expand unhindered by physical limitations. On-prem or remote, the workplaces will need to be equipped with tools that give smooth collaboration, immediate feedback, secure space for finding out and co-working.

The challenge today for organisations is to be prepared for investments in tools that allow this level of collaboration and empower workers to make far better choices, track their progress and ticket resolutions, pin-point bottlenecks and style options, with minimum time spent on unproductive work like facts gathering. Workplaces are transforming into synergy hubs rather than just locations to work, resulting in the movement from WFH to workplace as a calculated step, as opposed to going to work for the sake of it.

The digital transformation of the workplace has rendered the world flat. A black and white on-shore and off-shore model is virtually redundant. With suitable connectivity, the entire workforce can act as regional talent. This also suggests higher chance for talent enhancement and employment for these in rural regions.

Technology play
In 2020 India emerged as the second biggest Internet user. For the 1st time, rural India has more online customers than urban. A report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and Nielson states there are about 227 million active online customers in rural India, which is 10% more than the 205 million of urban India. This ecosystem can be leveraged to boost mobility amongst workforces and 5G could be the disruptive play in the horizon.

The Digital India
The Digital India campaign has designed a vision for a genuinely digital nation, enabling on the web firms, and empowering people’s lives, and producing an atmosphere conducive for startups. India has witnessed an eruption in the startups space, inventive remedy providers, and service aggregators.

The spend-off of the digital movement in India has spilled more than from its persons to its workplaces. The acceptance of all-issues-mobile, propelled by the pandemic has, catalysed mushrooming of begin-ups, extremely skilled freelancers, gig-economy and collaborative co-working spaces. Crux of this movement getting that the future of workplace in India is right here and now.

The writer is associate VP and delivery head, Digital Workplace Services, Infosys

Originally appeared on: TheSpuzz