The digital workplace is on-trend, yet still debatable

The digital workplace is on-trend being thought to bring new possibilities. At the same time, it is continuously analyzed from various perspectives. Many company leaders from all industries impacted – IT outsourcing, Human Resources, Retail, and more, are still comparing options. The new work-frame might be here to stay, as currently, some percent of the workforce is now working from home.

Is the digital workplace the best version in the long-term?

It is just a matter of perspective and depends on what opportunities you choose to see in this situation.

A study recently shared a closer look from the frontlines on the 2021 tech trends. Including, a zoom-in and out on the place where all business ideas are born – the work environment.

It seems that new ideas are emerging from the ambiguities companies are facing now; it could lead to new intelligent tools and platforms that improve our work from home and increase productivity in the digital workplace.

Many questions remain

The sudden work leap that sent us home by necessity has inevitably raised a handful of questions regarding the present and future of work.

It is only natural, given the fact that for decades, in industries, a certain workflow was proven to be efficient in certain conditions.

The workflow had to be changed overnight with no transition period. The dynamics went upside down, and work continued under emergency measures.

Many companies felt they made a step back in the digital workplace context and brought some topics to debate. Productivity might be affected, office relationships could fade and affect collaboration among teams, onboarding wouldn’t have the same effects. Learning can be more difficult, and potentially innovative ideas would need some special and proper context to be born.

Even Sundar Pitchai, CEO of Google said “We firmly believe that in-person, being together, having a sense of community is super important when you have to solve hard problems and create something new, so we don’t see that changing.”

Younger generations are feeling less connected

Even though they are fully equipped with the technological skills to work in a digital workplace, particularly for Millennials and Generation Z, working from home can be a challenging experience.

Last year Forbes quoted “despite being digital natives, fully 95% of Gen-Z workers and 93% of Millennial workers admit they’re having a tough time with the transition to working remotely. Three-fourths of the U.S. workforce feels less connected than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic, reports Smartsheet.”

The data seems to remain valid as other surveys confirm that WFH can alter the sense of belonging of younger employees. Career progression, but especially building relationships and trust with superiors can be harder to do through Zoom calls.

Some think that the digital workplace can lead to innovation

New collaboration tools that can integrate more functionalities for better coordination to reduce repetitive workflows, AI-driven personal productivity assistants, and other AI technologies that can make personalized recommendations to optimize performance, learning based on personal experience and enabled by a “digital coach” – will these be potential outcomes of the situation?

Where there are questions, soon enough answers will surface. It is in our natural mechanism to adapt and overcome difficulties and challenging contexts like the appearance of the digital workplace. The digital context is a bidder in this regard. Was it not the technology that propelled us towards a better future in medicine, education, business? Yes, it was, and yes, it is!