NC Feb-Mar 2023

FEATURE: HYBRID WORKNG
technology without frustration: they want the
latest digital tools that seamlessly fit around
the job they do without slowing them down or
getting in their way. As the war for talent
heats up - and a new generation of digital
natives join the workforce in ever-growing
numbers - businesses must continually
modernise to attract and retain great
employees. Therefore, organisations in 2023
simply cannot afford to frustrate their staff
with outdated, inflexible technology.
This year will see businesses increasingly
turn to collaborative technological tools to
close the gap between office-based working
and remote working. Offices will be fitted
with technologies that allow for the best
blend between physical and virtual
participation, ensuring a seamless, highquality
audio-visual experience that enables
everyone to feel included in a shared working
environment. When remote employees feel
just as comfortable, productive, and
supported working virtually as they would in
an office, the most inspiring collaborative
work can take shape.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IS KEY
However, it is not enough just to kit employees
with the right digital tools. Business leaders
will also need to think carefully about how
they can communicate effectively with an
employee base that's more fluid, mobile, and
geographically dispersed than before.
As new ways of working continue to blur the
lines between work life and home life, the
expansion of the virtual workforce means that
many businesses now rely more heavily on
email interaction than on face-to-face
communication. This is resulting in remote
and hybrid workers getting their inboxes
flooded with emails. In fact, the average office
worker is said to receive more than 120
emails daily - and many remote employees
are feeling compelled to check their work
emails multiple times outside of their
contracted hours.
The simple truth is that by
overcommunicating with their employees,
businesses risk not communicating at all. The
process of wading through a mountain of
emails just to find that one message that
needs dealing with is a frustration that most
workers can relate to, and email overload
threatens to fuel the employer-employee
disconnect. Employers need to ensure that
their most important correspondence with
employees is not diluted or drowned in all of
the noise.
This is why process efficiency and stronger
communication will be key management
priorities in the months ahead. Technology
plays a pivotal role in establishing a more
streamlined and clear communication process
in a hybrid working environment. For example,
group chat software can be a helpful tool for
managers to keep themselves available, be
transparent about expectations, and share
regular updates with physically dispersed
teams, ensuring that everybody is consistently
in the loop.
GOING BESPOKE
This year will also see the development of
apps that allow organisations to create
efficiency and be more flexible - on their own
terms. Many of these applications will be
custom-made to meet specific business
processes and needs.
While off-the-shelf applications offer
organisations some useful functions, such as
simple task tracking or calendar management,
they are increasingly being recognised as a
quick-fix solution to much longer-term
business needs. In contrast, bespoke apps are
custom built to support businesses with each
of their specific requirements, adapting
alongside the company as their needs evolve
over time. This flexibility empowers
organisations to meet more complex
objectives, such as improving employee
engagement and enhancing collaboration
across departments.
Therefore, to bridge the employeremployee
gap, businesses are set to
prioritise the need to quickly scale and adapt
to meet current and future challenges. In
many cases, this will bring about a shift away
from off-the-shelf applications and towards
more bespoke solutions to support their own
ways of working.
THE POWER OF SMART
OUTSOURCING
So, how can businesses seize these
opportunities and navigate the complexity of
the workplace in 2023? With skills shortages
across the IT sector bringing additional
challenges around securing the future of
hybrid working, companies are now looking
towards new solutions to plug the gaps.
As a result, businesses are increasingly
leveraging specialist outsourcing services.
Bringing in a trusted third party to take care of
the entire IT lifecycle - from procurement and
imaging to end-of-life support, data erase,
and repurposing - can give organisations the
breathing space to focus on making the new
normal of work truly work for all employees -
no matter where they are located. Not only
does this process allow companies to
repurpose their in-house capability, but it also
helps to establish and maintain a more
sustainable circular economy - something that
employees are increasingly coming to expect
from the businesses they work for.
Smart outsourcing is helping to relieve the
pressures on internal IT teams, stretching
budgets and resources at a time when both
are under strain. But regardless of whether a
businesses opts to outsource or to keep their
workplace services entirely in-house, the role
of technology in shaping the future of work is
beyond dispute. With the right investment and
support in place, organisations can ensure
that digital tools continue to bring out the best
in their hybrid workforces, setting up both
employers and employees for sustained
success through 2023 and beyond. NC
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