From "help me" to Engaged Productivity - 90 days later - IDC
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Chapter
An ISG Report, with Unisys
03
90 days later -
From “help me” to
Engaged Productivity
Boosting Human Mindfulness
and Engagement while
increasing Digital Connectedness
and Productivity
Welcome to the New Future
TABLE OF CONTENTS
2 WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED THAT THERE WOULD BE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS
OF NEW OFFICES IN 2020?
4 FROM DESIGN FOR EFFICIENCY TO DESIGN FOR RESILIENCE
Who benefited and why?
Why did they benefit?
6 UNDERSTANDING THE CHANGES BROUGHT ON BY COVID-19
A brief history of COVID-19
The shift in ways of working
Generational expectations and differences
Trends in how work might change
15 BENEFITS AND ISSUES WITH A REMOTE WORKFORCE
The myths and reality
Productivity
Trends in time
Non-IT benefits
Equality and access to a wider all-inclusive workforce
WFH legal issues and liabilities
26 HOW HUMANS ACTUALLY WORK
New challenges now faced
The issue of Zoom fatigue
Human behaviors and the psychology of continual work
27 HOW TECHNOLOGY HAS SUPPORTED THE MOVE
Tech issues have not gone away
Trends in remote support
30 ISG LEADING THE WAY
ISG identifies possible solutions – not all future workplace solutions are created equal
Finding the unique in a sea of change
32 TECHNICAL SUPPORT HAS GOTTEN HARDER, EXPECTATION SAYS IT GETS CHEAPER
Adding intelligence
Intelligence, intelligently added
Embedded conversational AI
Integrated AI
Automated analytics
Analyzing sentiment
Solving issues in the digital workplace – improving productivity
Reducing costs
Improving speed and quality of service
35 ENHANCING THE HUMAN WORKPLACE
The future is now
35 THE KEY STEPS TO DELIVER THE FUTURE BUSINESS MODEL
37 CONCLUSIONS
The eight steps to success
37 THINGS YOU CAN DO NOW
2
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In the last 12 months, we have seen the largest For the people working from home, the way of working
population movement ever in the history of the world. has forever been changed by the virus. As a result,
Through a historical drive for efficiency, hundreds corporations have had to adapt how they enable,
of millions of new offices have been created almost manage and support their employees. Home-based
overnight, leading to workers sitting at home creating employees are working up to 40 percent longer with
a near 1,000 percent increase in demand for video no correlated increase in productivity. This in itself has
conferencing and collaboration tools with little created negative effects after the initial work-at-home
improvement in technology. Suddenly, we realized that honeymoon period abruptly ended. The reason for
organizations have historically overlooked resiliency, this is that the technology deployed is reported to be
leading to a rush in shoring up corporate security and unsatisfactory, and issues take longer to solve. People
business continuity. This has created both benefits and are becoming more stressed out, and their personal
issues that employers need to address as we move into time has taken a hit. Previously, when ad hoc at-home
a new way of working in 2021. It has also created new work happened, it seems it was easier to delineate work
paradoxes where previously perceived benefits such and personal time. Now, this line has been blurred.
as work/life balance when working at home have been These issues faced by the human workforce can
severely tested and, in many cases, where implemented result in a positive or negative productivity spiral that
poorly, dramatic shifts in the wrong direction. businesses need to understand and be aware of.
Understanding how people work is as important Management has conflicting and contrasting demands,
Employee
as understanding what they do. which have resulted in some interesting practices
sentiment will be vital in the new future. impacting how they deploy remote performance
management, ensure staff feel part of the team and
When designing the future of work, organizations need
deploy new people-management cultures. On top of
to consider three areas: physical, digital and human
this, the technology of the pre-pandemic world has only
workplaces. The physical workspace that workers used
advanced slightly, which has resulted in many people
to know and love has become dust ridden and only now
working harder to bridge the organizational shortfalls,
is being opened up a gain subject to COVID-19 safety
provision technology tools, resolve IT problems and
protocols. Organizations will need to make plans to
measure KPIs.
adapt these environments into safe and collaborative
workspaces for segments of workers to come back Employees want to work and be able to manage their
to. These workspaces also will need to be integrated time flexibly. They just want their lives and work to work
into the digital remote workplace in which workers for them. If anything, the pandemic has shown that the
can seamlessly choose where they want to work but future we thought we were moving toward has caused
participate in processes or teams in the same way they employees and employers to realize there are new work
would in person. Organizations also will need to take models that enable a wholesale change of operations,
into account the needs and wishes of employees. customer experience and human interaction. This
will be achieved through the seamless connection
The majority of office workers have seen the light
of physical space redesign with end-to-end digital
and now want to remain working at home for at least
operations that are managed and operated by smart
50 percent of their time. For this digital workplace,
human-digital cognitive technologies that can sense the
however, it has become clear that organizations that
needs of the customer, employee and operations.
successfully moved all their workers home and onto
mobile technology seem to believe that the problems ISG has used its independent status to assess the
are solved, relying on employees and teams to solve future-of-work marketplace. Companies must rethink
their own issues. This is not the case, and indeed it is how they manage productivity and connectivity in the
not the end of the transformation. It is not even the future workplace. The use of automation and proactive
beginning of the end. It is the end of the beginning, technology to boost health and happiness is something
and employers need to look hard at the cultural and that jumped out in the provider market resulting in this
personal shift that the pandemic has caused. There is third chapter of ISG’s 90 days eBook series. As the title
much more work to be done. says, welcome to the new future.
1
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
how internal process and management oversight are
WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED limiting creativity and innovation, which they then
THAT THERE WOULD BE report to the management.
HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF Next comes my favorite part and one of the all-time
NEW OFFICES IN 2020? classic scenes from any movie. After the Bobs
recommend to put him on the management fast-track
Prior to the outbreak of coronavirus in early 2020, while firing a number of employees who have worked
over 85 percent of office managers saw working from in the same way for years, management disagrees and
home as a perk. Even though 51 percent of the office a classic consultant, management tête-à-tête occurs.
working population worked from their homes at least This shows that desk-based, ill-thought-out classic
part of one day a week, only a tiny percentage were processes can be done from anywhere.
required to work from home full time. This is because
One of the Bobs takes charge, with a laser focus
many organizations’ internal and management
on Bill Lumbergh, the film’s infamous and pointless
processes were not geared to manage working from
manager. “So let me ask you, we feel that you just
home for even short periods of time. This resulted
haven’t challenged the workers enough, he says,
in the mainly office-driven operations we saw pre-
and when the management disagree, the Bobs bring
pandemic.
home the argument with data. “And how much time
To put this in context, if you’ve ever seen the cult would you say you spend each week in the office
classic 1999 movie, “Office Space,” it demonstrates in dealing with these TPS reports?” The scene ends
a fanciful way how the most unusual of circumstances with the two staring at each other with daggered
can change the way employees want to work to eyes and management realizing they need to change.
improve productivity and happiness. In this case, Lumbergh, simply utters the now famous line, “yeh-
a hypnotherapy session forever changes how a ahhh,” and sips his coffee. Peter gets promoted and
frustrated and unmotivated U.S. software employee his work life balance and life in general improves.
named Peter views his desk job and life. He transforms The movie shows exactly how frustrated employees
from a desk-bound tamed man always fearful of his feel and how company bureaucracy can influence
matrix of bosses complaining about his TPS reports motivation and morale, told in a hilarious modern
to a corporate rebel who finds better ways of doing workplace classic.
things, refuses to work overtime, plays games on his
And this is the problem: Before the coronavirus, the
desk and leaves the office whenever he desires. As
workplace was seen as an office with physical desks,
the company is undergoing a period of cost pressure,
meeting rooms and some break out areas to meet and
two external consultants, both named “Bob,” arrive to
collaborate. The “future of work” was described, and
assess the company’s employees, including Peter.
a future aspirational world was promoted by keynote
In the classic scene, the two Bobs ask how Peter speakers and well-known entrepreneurs. These global
spends his typical day, who explains to them in blunt aspirations of a more remote workforce and the
terms how bored he is. He describes how bad the TPS benefits it brings to work-life balance and productivity
reports are and says, “The thing is, Bob, it’s not that were and are (but, oh boy, how it has changed) the
I am lazy, it’s that I just don’t care. It is a problem of topic of conferences around the world where digital
motivation, if I work my ass off and we ship a few more providers demonstrated the art of the possible
units, what do I get out of it? And another thing, I have through technology and communication platforms
eight different bosses right now, so if I make a mistake, enabling employees to work at home.
I have eight different people coming by my desk to
At one of these conferencesi, founder and chairman
tell me about it. So, my only real motivation is to not
of Virgin Richard Branson said, “We like to give people
have them come by and hassle me about it, that, and
the freedom to work where they want, safe in the
the fear of losing my job. But you know what Bob, that
knowledge that they have the drive and expertise to
will make someone work just hard enough not to get
perform excellently, whether they are at their desk
fired.”
or in their kitchen. Yours truly has never worked out
In a final brutal twist, he shows the two Bobs exactly of an office, and never will.” And this is great, for the
2
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
insightful few, where they literally can work anywhere. by the ILO as those who can or will work at home
People who think like Branson have made investments permanently as described above. From home or
to challenge the status quo and enable people to teleworkers are those who can work from home some
flourish to deliver saleable services and commodities or all of the time without it being a permanent base.
from anywhere, removing barriers to success as they Not all organizations and sectors can work from home
go. due to non-digitized processes or the industry they
work in. In manufacturing or service industries for
In the mainstream business community, though,
example, a physical workforce is needed.
it was a different story. Through digital workplace
initiatives, some organization made changes to mobile It is estimated that approximately 25-30 percentiv of
technology and elements of collaboration. These the global workforce will be working from home
happened slowly, mainly due to traditional ways of multiple days a week. When translated into the
delivering change and, in some instances, due to cost industries that can work from home, wev expect that
benefit. These managers never thought about the approximately 76 percent of the office-based
future because their futures had not been challenged. workforce will remain working from home at least half
Then, just like what happened to Peter in Office Space, the time. This means that between 643 and 772
something happened that changed everything. For us million of the 3.4 billion workforcevi will work from
in the real world, the pandemic hit. home on a regular basis. So the way we set up
The International Labor Organization (ILO) estimatesii organizations to deliver customer value will need to
that pre-pandemic approximately 7.9 percent of the change forever.
world’s workforce, or about 260 million people, worked Pre-Pandemic
from home on a permanent basis and that while some 51% Office
were teleworkers, most were not. The number of During-Pandemic
Return
these people who worked at home exclusively on a 92%
permanent basis was 2.9 percent, or an estimated 7.5 Post-Pandemic
2-3 Days
million people. The other 5 percentage points was 76% per Week
made up of the people who may have been based at
home but worked part time and elsewhere, on the We saw this in the the first chapter of our 90 days
road perhaps. Later e-book focusing on how to ensure that people
This data is further backed up by the EUiii, which work at home did so securely using zero-trust multi-
shows that between 2009 and 2019 approximately device stealth security. The second chapter, 90
5.4 percent of the workforce worked from home most Days from Firefighting to Fighting Fit, explained how
organizations needed to fund that change and ensure
of the time, and that the share of employed workers
financial stability in the long term driven by a focus on
working at home at least part time increased from 5.2
their hierarchy of needs and cube of value.
percent in 2009 to 9 percent in 2019. Working from
home was considerably more common among the self- This is where we pick up, because it is clear from
employed than dependent employees, but the overall history that organizations focused on a centralized,
figure remained at a roughly constant 5.4 percent in cheaper delivery model designed for efficiency rather
that time period. This shows that across the globe, than resiliency suffered the most due to supply chain
employees using their home as a place of work was a or third-party failures, as well as issues with how to
nice to have rather than a mainstream way of working. ensure people could work at home using office-based
systems and processes. And it is this lack of resilience
And in the period of less than a month, approximately
that has left us in the world we are in and has changed
92 percent of the world’s population was ordered to
the world of work forever. Here, we explore the
stay at home. This includes hundreds of millions of
changes that have happened physically and culturally
office-based workers who suddenly needed security,
in the future of work, where employees now work
technology, process, and support to work from home.
seamlessly at home, or wherever they need to, and
Not all succeeded, and the world of work changed
how technology enables a brighter and healthier
forever. It is worth noting here that there are two
future for the aspirations predicted in 2019 that are
definitions to explain. At-home work is defined
now a stark reality.
3
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The opportunities for future employee and human instead which requires mitigation and planning to
capital models to incorporate digital tools – not all occur. It is why ISG is so successful in one of the key
employees will be human – are vast and exciting. areas in sourcing and vendor management with its
third-party risk management (TPRM) capabilities like
GovernXviii, deployed across vendor management
FROM DESIGN FOR teams worldwide. In the case of something like this,
EFFICIENCY TO DESIGN no local organizational solution can mitigate risk that
decimates entire value and supply chains, and because
FOR RESILIENCE the human capital needed to deliver those supply
As the Organization for Economic Cooperation and chains is also badly affected, they collapse.
Development (OECD) explained in its April 2020vii Indeed, the OECD’s New Approaches to Economic
coronavirus briefing note on the economic challenges Challenges (NAEC) Group Conference in September
of the virus, the world needs to adopt a systematic 2019 on Averting Systemic Collapseix identified how
resilience approach to dealing with the virus and any growing complexity and interdependence has made
potential future shocks. Since the late 20th century, various global systems such as economic, public
the commercial world has focused on delivering health, and cyberspace susceptible to cascading
maximum value for minimum costs. This put an failure. It is clear now that from years of the
emphasis on lean operations, just-in-time delivery and commercial world trying to optimize all that it can,
through the concept of human buffering, operating system resilience has foundered, leaving governments,
at the minimum levels of human capital needed to the public, and the environment in a weakened state.
deliver in that particular location. This emphasis The OECD concludes that short-term, highly lucrative,
on efficiency in the operation, management and yet fragile supply chains and economic exchanges
outcomes of various economic and social systems are fragile. When disrupted, these systems may
meant that much of the world relies on complex, have significant effects in unexpected areas. This
nested and interconnected supply chains to deliver was in 2019, and these types of scenarios have been
goods and services. discussed since the financial crashes of 2007-08 and
While this has provided considerable opportunities, before as shown in the diagram on the next page.
it means that like in all complex systems, tensions Then, the coronavirus arrived and, as we saw in the
exist between efficiency and resiliency, including the first eBook chapters, took a significant toll on the
ability to anticipate, absorb, recover, and adapt to physical, financial, and human landscape.
unexpected threats. In the modern world, resiliency Now that the pandemic has raged for several
is thought of in terms of disaster recovery and months, we know that organizations can adapt and
fundamental infrastructure that must operate in learn. Organizations that have a diversified product
times of crisis such as a country’s military and health offering or were able to adapt quickly to digital
systems. In the corporate world, that translates to models delivered through multiple channels have
ensuring services are delivered on time and at cost a much better chance of survival. Those that were
through the careful management of risk. That risk able to adapt their workforce and delivery engines
was managed through contractual relationships with to a remote delivery model most seamlessly not only
suppliers of services and technology to deliver services survived but grew.
to your end customer. Those suppliers accepted the
risk and were responsible for risk management. Bear
in mind that this refers to known risk – risks that Who benefited and why?
people are aware of or acknowledge may happen and
plan for. Technically, COVID-19 was unanticipated Recently the European Union published its “Telework
risk, a risk that is known but so highly unlikely that in the EU before and after the COVID-19: Where We
it doesn’t need mitigation. Despite the fact that a Were, Where We Head To” science policy briefx. It
pandemic was high among the OECD countries, and shows that before the pandemic, people who most
global risk factors, perhaps business should have often worked from home on an occasional basis were
put that unanticipated risk into the known column in IT and other communications services, knowledge
4
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Source: Visual Capitalist
5
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
intensive business services, education services sectors, empowered workforce are essential to delivery. And
plus those who provided publishing, audio/visual and this is the core theme of this chapter, understanding
broadcasting capabilities. Consequently, after the what employees need both physically and technically
pandemic hit, the Financial Timesxi identified the to do that work and empowering them to do it through
organizations that saw their stock rise the most in removal of problems and thus, making them more
terms of revenue growth, and these increases were productive and enriched. Only by having technology
due to new product delivery and adapted channels that “just works” and happy, healthy employees are
being created. From the diagram below, it is clear that companies like those mentioned above thriving
the winners in each sector mirror those that had the due to the products and services they create. And
highest proportion of people who worked remotely to top it all off, as we discussed in chapter 2, their
and could therefore adapt to the new conditions. Also, value proposition is highly digital, scalable and agile,
those organizations that had products or services to making their services and offerings easy to consume.
enable the remote working of employees benefited The areas of technical and human freedom and
hugely. In the previous chapter, we explored the empowerment through enabled digital delivery and
financial winners and losers in terms of growth across agility in the workplace is the theme of this chapter.
the sectors.
UNDERSTANDING THE
CHANGES BROUGHT ON BY
COVID-19
As we explored in chapter one of this series, the world
saw a mass movement of people back to their homes,
perhaps not seen since times described in the Bible,
when everyone had to go back to their place of birth
to be registered. Hundreds of millions of people of all
ages, races, sex, and nationality had to stay at home
and work, or be placed on the equivalent of furlough,
as we saw in the U.K., or worse. This single largest
mass movement of the workforce has changed the
way we work, where we work and how we work most
likely forever.
As part of its work in understanding the shift to a new
model of working, ISG mapped out every possible “day
Source: https://www.ft.com/content/844ed28c-8074-4856-bde0-20f3bf4cd8f0
in the life of” (DILO) for each worker type in the future.
The resulting “future worker tube map” (the tube map)
that follows clearly shows the “office” of the future will
Why did they benefit? include the home, remote locations, the physical office
The organizations listed above typically work in digital and a hybrid of the above.
and Agile ways – it doesn’t mean that they responded
The tube map serves as a master plan in terms of all
in agile ways, but their delivery models, with a highly
the key elements that organizations need to think
collaborative workforce working in agile ways, existed
about. The “day in the life of” (DILO) approach to its
behind the customer product or service. Companies
construction shows the common areas, where tube
such as Microsoft, Amazon, Zoom, Apple, Facebook,
lines run together or join up such that actions need
and others have workforces that can essentially work
to be taken for multiple workers. In the drive to serve
anywhere. Even pre-pandemic, the likes of Facebook
the customer, a clear understanding of how work will
had employees able to collaborate on features and
be delivered is needed and this tube map reveals key
capabilities from their bedrooms or corporate offices.
processes and technologies to consider.
The deployment of collaboration technology plus an
6
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Home Worker
Remote Worker
Collaboration Event
Automated Scripts
1st Line Fix Call Help Desk Contact Remote
capture data Technical Issue Receive Video / Phone
Help Desk Office Worker
Agent Works with User Sign On Calls from Internal /
Signal Ready for Work External Customer
Securely
User Credentials Sent Help Desk Customer / Attendee
Escalate to 2nd Line Agent Works with User Self Service
Automatically
Support
Facilities Management
Open Work Queue Receive Internal / External
2nd Line Fix FM Team Prepare Socially FM Prep Office FM Handover
FM Team Allocate Customer Contact
Distant Measures Space(s) Space(s) Home Based Work
Consumables to
Events
Resolve Issues Flexible Worker
Mobile GPS Meet Colleagues / Hold Collaboration Follow Host to Exit
Logs Arrival Customer Session
Issue / Problem FM Track GPS Help Desk
Created
System Allocates FM Occupancy
Backbone Support
Users to Spaces System Updated Finalise FM Alerted
Arrive Office / Corporate App Follow Route on Map Acoustic Bubbles
Swipe In Created Output Space Free
Plans Safest to Meeting Space Complete Internal Automation
Agree Work that
Workspaces Route Maintaining Distance Workflow as Required
can be Done
Planned Smart Office Captures Customer
Daily Occupancy Content Automatically FM Wipe Down
Use App to
Downloaded Space(s)
Travel to Locate Pre- IT Link
Adapting Property Usage Office Contact Remote Booked Desk Close Contact
Zone Signal Interest Receive Call Help Desk Smart Property
1
in work from Manager
Smart Office Finalises
Live GPS Meeting Detail Key Future of Work Activity
Signal Logged
Work From Anywhere Use App to move to desk
Zone
Open Workplace Working Time Ending
2 Manager Technical Issue Employee Notified of following Safest Route Major Future of Work Activity
Notified Application Arrival Meeting Detail Issued
to Participants FM Prepare Sign Off System
Arrive at Desk / Connect Space(s) for Linked Future of Work Activity
Leave Home Open and Next Event
Check Calendar (re)Plan Day to Corporate Systems
Zone Zone
6 Collaboration & Social Interaction 5 Digital Connectivity (Whole Image)
Decide on
Length of Dial into Team Applications and Virtual Work From Anywhere
Go to Home Office / Zone
Sign In with
Availability Answer Corporate
Launch Workstation Kick Off Meeting
Holographic Reception
Assistant Re-Sync 2 END OF DAY
Health Questions Undertake Virtual Assistant
Work Updates Calendar
Family Time / Update Slack /
Update Team FM Track GPS Overnight
Health Check Team Kanban
School Run Kanban at Daily in Office
Update Virtual
Stand-up Work on
Send Signal to Prepare Assistant
Personal Team Calls
Productivity Backlog (AM) Output
Go to Home Office / Leisurely Sign On Undertake
Launch Workstation System Breakfast Securely Team Calls Arrive at Office Video Calls Free Time /
Sleep
Telephone Calls
Make Phone Plan Next
Personal Calls Prepare Output Update Slack / Undertake Day(s)/Weeks
Growth Open Work Queue Team Kanban Team Calls Issue Output to Internal /
External Customer
Travel to Meeting
Sign On Make Phone Family Time /
Issue Output to Calls Kids to Bed
Securely Internal / External Issue Output to Internal
Physical Meeting / Physical Meeting / Close Day with
Customer Collaboration Needed / External Customer Collaboration Needed Team Call
Signal Ready for Work
WAKE UP Customer Issue
Resolved Update Slack /
Break for Work on Personal Travel Home
Open Work Queue Update Slack / Prepare Output Team Kanban
Team Kanban Exercise / Meal Backlog (PM)
Receive Phone
Update Employee Discuss Issue over Complete Internal FM System Blocks Room /
Calls from Virtual Assistant
Availability on Phone Workflow as Required Desk and Updates
Customer Log into FM System Informs Employee
Productivity System Occupancy Rates Check Out
of Desk Swipe Out
Accept Invite
Select type of Book Desk if
Signal Ready for Work Provide Improved Space Needed
Receive Video Required
Customer Experience Complete Internal
Calls from Follow Route on Map
by Video Workflow as Required Close Call Sign out using
Customer to Vacate Maintaining
Distance Holographic Reception
Choose Receive H&S Corporate App on
Invite Attendees Guidance Phone Updated
Consumables
Receive Customer FM Update
Customer Wants Contact Guide Customer to Close Video Call
Respond to Complete Internal Occupancy Figures
Assistance Customer Chat Solve Issue Workflow as Required
Internal Systems
Sign Off System Update KPI / Workload
Working Time Ends
Logs onto Corporate Zone Close Chat
Portal / App 3 Embedded Intelligent Automation
Workstation / sync with
Users Notified of
Corporate Network
Online Portal Automation Pulls Internal Processes updates by next AM
Supports Customer Data from CRM / Automated Automation Logs
Systems and Tracks Issues Internal Productivity
System Notified
Machine Learning Backbone Proactively Automation Reviews End of Day System End of Day Sentiment
Home Based Workers Online Portal / App Automation Logs and
Capability Learns Patterns Undertake Fixes Logs for Issues Health Check Analysis Completed
Signalled Work Needed Updated with Latest Updates Knowledge Base
Information Internal Productivity Employee Availability
System Updated Planned Patches / Updates Run
Automatically Overnight Algorithms Produce
Issue / User Hotspots
Issue / User Hotspot
Machine Learning
Cases Created
Capability Reconciles
Expected versus Actual Users Notified of
updates by next AM Affected Users Notified Solution Implemented Solution Created
Productivity System Productivity System Plans Proactive Fix Completed Communication Created Solution Tested
Backbone Worker
Verifies Actual Operator Required Operators Troubleshoots
Availability
Zone
4 Always-On IT
Source: ISG
7 By Iain Fisher, Director – The Future of Work
procured and delivered to where they needed to be.
A brief history of COVID-19 Job done, right? No.
The diagram below shows how the pandemic played
“This is not the end. It is not even the
out in these three areas of the physical, digital and
human workplaces, again in a tube map style. beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps,
the end of the beginning.”
Manage Workforce
When Winston Churchill famously said the quote
Pandemic size above, the U.K. was just coming out of the Battle of
Britain, the decisive air battle in World War II. And
Close Offices Assess Devices Define Device like that period, the U.K. has run up large debts, both
/ Technology Strategy
Mobilise remote financially and physically. Currently, the U.K. has spent
workforce
Address Economic over £210 billion tackling the pandemic, and the Office
Issue Mobile
challenges
Technology of Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that this will
Assess Situation
reach £370 billion this financial year alone. Britain
Maintain Manage Internal are on track to hit a higher level of debt as a share of
operations
remotely
IT Issues
national income since the second World Warxii. Like
Assess
Technology
World War II, the pandemic has impacted nearly every
Re-shape
Understand
Organisation
Needs nation on the planet.
customer
behaviours
Understand
Understand With vaccination wins being declared in the U.K.,
Device Needs of Deploy Convergent
Redesign Work Needs of
Employees Devices the U.S. and Russia, the actions taken to date only
Operations Employees
represent the beginning of the end. It is conceivable
Deliver Better
Physical
Work / Life Digital Workplace and indeed highly likely that the world will still be in
Workplace
Balance Human Workplace some form of restrictions until the third or fourth
quarter of 2021, simply because the vaccine needs
Source: ISG
time to be rolled out and the population needs time to
build immunity.
As we all know, the pandemic caused a mass exodus
of the working population as offices were shut and And this is the main issue. Most organizations think
the center of urban cities became uninhabitable for they have fought back the blaze, and now they can
workers, creating scenes not unfamiliar to what a continue operating in this interim way of working
disaster movie might project. This mobilization then without any further change – thinking that this is the
meant that the physical, digital, and human aspects new normal. This is not true. Areas such as office
needed to be considered, which is where chapter usage and its associated costs are becoming more
one kicks off. We sent all the workers home, and apparent as workers shift to home. Offices will still
hoped that we did it securely. Now we have a remote be needed but their usage has and will change. But
workforce using various forms of technology. The now is the time to understand the needs of the
challenge has been to simultaneously keep the lights employees and what technical requirements they
on financially and deliver services digitally – all while have so that business can once again grow in a
enabling and supporting a remote workforce. This is period unprecedented downturn. This is true not just
where the digital workplace comes in. Chapter two because of the pandemic but any potential future
focuses on the cost optimization and identification impact that may still come to challenge us. It is for
of opportunity to adapt the financial, operating, these reasons that we need to fully understand how
and technical models of the business. This cost the population WILL work from home a significant
optimization impacted the people and the technology. period time during the week whether they want to
return to the office or not.
Through a reduction in people availability and the
need for reduced operations, the organization was ISG has put the required needs into a simple wheel,
reshaped to reduce costs. Likewise, the technical called the ISG Future Workplace Framework, which is
landscape was rapidly shifted into a digital delivery shown below and describes the issues on returning to
model with collaboration tech and mobile devices work and how a fully collaborative environment must
8
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.be provided. The pandemic has delivered the in the office to provide touchless integration with
opportunity to show how we can succeed. We were the work being done will add to this. As most office
able to get a large portion of some organizations spaces are leased, and for a significant period of time,
working from home in a week or less – something that companies cannot just vacate office space at will.
seemed impossible prior to the pandemic. Well, now They will need to rethink how they use these spaces,
we need that spirit once again to transform the office and with a part time workforce can either rotate their
and how we work. space to ensure thorough cleaning or can adapt the
less used areas into collaboration zones that are fully
integrated with collaboration and communication
technology. These concepts will provide the basic
01
12 Ability to approaches needed to address the physical workspace
Work from
Anywhere /
Safe & Secure
Workspace
02 components depicted in the future workplace
Any�me
Uberisa�on / Seamless framework here.
Con�ngent Physical /
11 Workforce Digital A digital workplace is where the physical meets
Integra�on
03 the human. Through the provision of unified
Culture /
Performance /
communications and collaboration-enabled devices
Adaptable Smart
Leadership Change Facili�es and technologies, we can start to integrate the remote
10 workforce into the physical workforce. This is where
Future Workplace 04 we started before the pandemic by driving mobile
Framework Collabora�on
Team Virtualisa�on Focused tech to remote users to ensure they can connect
Workspace
to colleagues and deliver work. But we haven’t had
09 Unified a chance to rethink the return to post pandemic
Digital / Human
Augmenta�on &
Communica�ons
& Collabora�on 05 working, hence the Churchill quote. Now we will need
Automa�on
Automated / Secure Enabled to have connected employees. Check! Now we need
Proac�ve Cloud Devices
08 Technical Hosted to get more of the applications and tools used onto
Support Applica�ons
06 the cloud to ensure resiliency as already discussed.
07 The ability to work from anywhere and do it securely is
Source: ISG
one of the key advantages of cloud provisioning.
Connecting employees to the digital workplace while
maintaining smart and touch-free inputs can be
Organizations that think they have weathered the achieved through integration of cognitive capabilities,
storm and are finished in their transformation of the which brings us to the part of the book where we
workplace will fall behind. Legislation and protections touch on making sure that the employees can work,
will likely be put in place which will dictate how the mainly because the tools we gave them to work on
workforce can interact with physical office spaces do, in fact, work and don’t continually break down or
and organizations will need to build these compliance prove unreliable. This means we need to consider
requirements into their thinking. automation, which enables us to think about taking
As an example, and to explain the future workplace away waste from an employee’s life and boosting
framework radial above, provisions need to be made available time. We further boost available time by
for a safe and secure workspace for the workforce embedding digital augmentation into their work lives
to return to and work form. This includes the home through the use of cognitive AI and natural language
as well! There needs to be a seamless physical processing. By using simple digital assistants, we can
integration with digital technologies, which will reduce ask for tasks to be done and, by having automation
contact with surfaces, and the need to undertake built in, it just gets done. This saves time for
manual processes where digitization will help. The employees and rounds off the digital requirements of
use of smart facilities such as a well-lit workspace, air the employee of the future.
quality monitoring (as COVID-19 is airborne) showing
safe areas in offices or the use of IoT installed devices
9
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.The human workplace is where we will focus the they need to work, and it would cause them significant
main part of this chapter of the book. This is where hardship should that job be lost. They have limited say
it is assumed that we have sent everyone home in how they will work in the future but do still have a
and removed a commute, so they must be more voice. Typically, they fall into several categories, one
productive, right? No. Data shows that in fact being physical work that requires hands-on, in-person
organizations that implemented this part quickly and interaction with a product or service. Manufacturing,
without a thorough strategy like the tube map and logistics hospitality and retail typically fall into this
wheel we have shown, employees actually feel category. For these workers, it is unlikely that
much will change in terms of process or interaction.
more pressured as their productivity
However, the way they interact with services, and the
gets worse, they get stressed and it gets services they provide most certainly will.
worse still. This needs attention. To do it correctly,
organizations need to implement proper management Through a move to digital supply and consumption
of virtual teams which is different to that of physical models for services, these workers will still go through
teams. They need to be structured properly changes in physical, digital and human workplaces.
with a shift in working culture and performance As this chapter is being written, 25,000 people have
management. The harshness of some organizations now been put at risk through the collapse of Arcadia
to monitor employees remotely, leads to the negative Groupxiv and Debenhamsxv. About 12,000 jobs have
productivity cycle above and can actually be illegal been eliminated at twoxvi majorxvii U.K. airlines, and
in some areas like the EU where GDPR comes in, 9,000 have disappeared at major U.K. hotel chains
regardless of it being a work situation. More on that such as Hiltonxviii, Marriottxix and Premier Innxx.
later. This shift in working patterns and the fact that The main reason is that these organizations offer
organizations in the UK have a total of nearly eight products that are typically consumed in a physical
million people furloughed opens up the opportunity way, but those like Debenhams and other retailers
when redesigning operating and business models failed to shift quickly enough to a digital delivery
to use a contingent workforce. The uberization of model, instead requiring staff to operate from physical
the workforce managed through new contingent brick-and-mortar stores, which had high rental costs
workforce platforms – places where worker supply and and reduced customer traffic. That equation was
demand is managed – means that they can pick and unsustainable even before coronavirus hit. This
choose when they want to work, and organizations will should be a strong signal that the role of retail needs
need to provide capacity, systems and processes to a strong digital presence and supply chain, which
enable this to happen. This shift is beneficial to both allows retailers to adapt and pivot in what they offer
employer and employee. All this enables employees to and provide. To do that, we will need to see a shift
work when they want, where they want and in a more in people who would normally have been behind a
happy, healthy way. counter to working from home providing services in
new ways.
Like those who already work at home due to the
The shift in ways of working pandemic, retail employees have seen a change in
We have already seen the physical shift in the the way they work and how they deliver to the end
workforce to a widespread working-from-home model. customer. Currys, a large U.K. electronics retailer
Dataxiii shows that it is highly likely we will not see this has weathered the financial storm better than most
return to pre-pandemic levels where almost half the despite having large supercenters from where they
working population will remain at home at least half sell goods. A significant move online and now the
the week in a post pandemic world. This opens up a presence of web-based customer service agents who
number of opportunities and issues in the physical, you can see and speak to live about the products has
digital and human workplaces. brought the in-store customer experience online and
enables customers to consume Currys’ services safely,
Working at home has made individuals re-think their
quickly and at their leisure. This is a great example
relationship with work and how they want to continue
of how an organization has used digital to adapt its
working. For most, there is no decision or change,
physical workplace to include the digital customer
10
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.experience through digital workplace change. have different needs and requirements and it is
Fundamental to that change is having the employees only through understanding what those are, will
working at home through changes to the human organizations be successful in determining the next
workplace. steps.
Some workers are now used to remote work but will
need new technology to remain working remotely.
What work needs done Hybrid workers who now want flexibility will need to
As described in chapter one, some organizations fit into new processes and ways of working, which also
adapted quickly to enable employees to work at needs to take their wishes into account. These two
home while boiling the issue down to its fundamental categories of people will need training and upskilling
components. As a result, in many cases, organizations to successfully move to that mode of operation as the
simply moved the base of operations to a remote workforce becomes more skill-dependant rather than
location to enable important processes to continue hierarchical or process driven. The workforce of the
where possible. In some cases, this was clearly not future is diverse demographically and geographically.
possible, and problems became clear when existing
processes and service delivery were attempted from
home. Where people work
Imagine if over the last nine months employers had The concept of an office has changed and may need
worked to identify the fundamental processes and to be entirely rethought and transformed for a post
services across each department, geography or COVID-19 world. As we have already seen in ISG’s
business entity and worked with employees, through Future Workplace framework earlier in this eBook,
the use of data, to design what work is actually needed organizations will need to assess their use of central
in the new business model. Previously, we looked at physical properties and have a strategy for its use
understanding how customer habits had changed over given it is likely that it will be leased for a considerable
the pandemic, and this helps organizations re-design time. Organizations will need to adapt workspaces to
for the future while bringing the employees with enable a safe and trackable workspace for those who
them. The world has changed and so should the ways do want to return to the office and also for facilities to
organizations deliver work, services or products. support the kinds of interactions that cannot happen
remotely. If the primary purpose of an organization’s
space is to accommodate specific moments of
How work is done collaboration rather than individual work, then this
needs to be designed in with careful consideration
In chapter one, we discussed the types of employees
to employee needs and requirements all designed
that will be needed in the future operations of post
around the new future customer experience. In the
pandemic organizations. These types, shown below,
new future, customers will consume products and
Remote Remote
Workers This will also Workers
shape the role,
scope and
requirements of
Backbone Hybrid your physical Hybrid
Workers Workers network of Backbone Workers
offices and Workers
support
functions like IT
Physical and HR
Workers Physical
Workers
Source: ISG
11
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.services in different ways, and employees will need to They need to build trust and teamwork for your safety.
deliver in new ways, which in turn drives the human And, like a cabin crew, trust between gig employees
workplace and physical workplace. with no common history or access to knowledge
repositories will be critical to delivering in the new
The outcome of this thinking might mean that
normal successfully.
employee types are moved into the remote worker
bucket as they no longer need to work in a central It is estimated that there are currently 78 million
location full time or even at all. An organization’s freelancersxxi worldwide, and this number is expected
talent can now effectively live anywhere they want if to grow. Added to this, we can now increase
the right physical and digital workplaces are provided. the workforce through a more inclusive set of
This means they have the power to enhance the requirements this pool will expand significantly. These
business and their personal health through a rethink workers will become outcome based rather than
in the way they work. salaried and we have seen a doubling of the number
of gig workers in the U.K. just prior to the pandemicxxii.
One possible future, which is backed up by the
The CIPD, an HR professional organization, estimates
data, suggests that many employees will work from
that four in 10 furloughed workersxxiii will likely lose
home for at least two to three days per week and
their jobs in the next 12 months and that many on
make infrequent trips to the office or a collaboration
location to meet colleagues. Organizations will need the furlough scheme have indeed re-evaluated the
to develop new cultures of people management to way they want to work in the future, now focusing
ensure that this approach is a winning proposition on gig-type work, which provides a better work life/
for both employers and employees. This will create balance and the ability to work from anywhere. This is
profound effects on the quality of work for the only possible, however, through the rapid expansion of
business and the quality of life for the employee as collaboration technology, part of the digital workplace
well as opening up potential future cost models for becoming embedded into the human and physical
how organizations pay for talent. This thinking is why workplaces. The digital technology augments the
the ISG future workplace is a cycle, with one discussion human and is embedded into physical infrastructure
leading to another regardless of where someone starts to ensure connectivity thus ensuring both resiliency
on the wheel. and flexibility, providing opportunities for creativity,
rather than just efficiency.
Uberization of the workforce,
Technology Integration
the rise of the gig economy
Advances in technology will continue to push the
The pandemic has created the ultimate surge in future of work agenda and make it even simpler and
the contingent workforce. The uberization of the faster to work from anywhere at any time. The CEO
workforce (meaning employees work when they want of Vodafone was interviewedxxiv on this subject, and
to) has come about because work is no longer tied the company’s thinking mirrors that of ISG. The CEO
to a central location. As we have heard, hundreds is quoted as saying that telecommunications industry
of millions of workers were displaced during the sees a more virtual and automated work environment
pandemic, and this has meant that it makes almost no in the future through the integration of 5G networks
difference whether someone in India, Israel or Ireland and connected machines that enable a true virtualized
provides the work an organization needs. Mobile and instant virtual workplace. ISG calls this the digital
and collaboration technology has driven the location workplace.
out of the delivery equation. It means that we now
Employees afforded the ability to interact with
have a globalized talent pool from which to choose.
AI-powered assistants can do many things, from
If you have ever boarded a plane and seen the cabin
preparing smart facilities and prepping whiteboard
crew saying hello to each other and discussing their
presentations to incorporating virtual reality headsets
different routes, this is because they are a temporary
that put them at the table of a morning meeting with
crew for that leg of the trip, not a permanent team.
12
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.co-workers around the world. Indeed, at the time Generation X – people born between 1965 to
of writing this, the author became aware of Disguise 1980
XRxxv, which uses augmented reality to insert a 3D Millennial – people born between 1981 to 1996
version of an employee into a collaborative workspace
or meeting. This technology enables the collaborative Generation Z – people born between 1997 to
experience to be further enhanced and will improve 2012
the issues employees face working at home that we Within the workplace, there are trends within each
discuss later in this e-book. group that need to be taken into account in a post
COVID-19 world. Most of the Millennials and Gen Z
people coming into the workplace have been sold a
Generational expectations dream. For many, a number of years at a university or
and differences college has led to a desire to enter a particular field or
industry. However, most industries are changing and
This is a key issue that most organizations have yet to changing rapidly. Considering the recruiting processes
take account of. The Society for Human Resource of large corporates, a focus is on collaboration, white
Managementxxvi suggests that there are five boards, digital tech, and the ability to create, which is
generations, from Silent to Gen Z, working in brought to the fore on almost all occasions. But how
organizations today, and they all have different needs. are they going to achieve this when everyone must
However, a thorough analysisxxvii of 20 independent work at home?
studies on generational groups of over 20,000 people
Therefore, organizations that employ multi-
cited by HBR shows that there are inconsistent
generational staff need to provide a future workplace
differences in job attitudes when comparing
with work modalities that offer alternatives while
generational groups. This is fine when looking at the
the employees can still have common ground to
end-to-end career of each group, but over the short
collaborate. For instance, let us look at the use of
term, there are indeed differences in the grouped
email, a staple of the world of work. Research has
generations. The generations shown below are
found that there are large differences in the way
classed as:
Millennials and Gen Z (just to compare two groups)
use email. Gen Z does use email and about 50 percent
look at it once a day at least. But only 14.4 percentxxviii
of them use it as a primary tool for work, while 64.9
percent use it for personal communication. They
are not abandoning email, just using it in other ways.
Therefore, despite their preference for social and
immediate communication tools, there will need to be
a culture change in the organization to deploy and use
new technologies in a way that is useful for all and not
just one group, or we will lose the inclusiveness of the
workplace whether remote or in person.
Global surveys have been undertaken during and
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Z after the pandemic by several research companies.
In one industry-leading survey of nearly 3,000 people
globallyxxix, it was clear that there are differences
Silent Generation – people born between 1928 to between the generations in how successfully each
1945 group is working from home. The data showed that
while approximately 70 percent of Silent, Baby Boomer
Baby Boomers – people born after World War 2,
and Gen Xers were working from home, this tailed off
between 1946 to 1964
to approximately 60 percent for Millennials and 45
percent for Gen Z.
13
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.This same pattern continued when workers were reduced number of days at home. Boomers, Gen X and
asked if they had access to everything they needed Millennials wanted to work from home two to three
to be successful at home. This is an interesting days a week, but Gen Z resoundingly were closer to
perspective in that the
younger generation one. A separate global survey revealed an interesting
difference between the generations as they worked
is less successful at home. Indeed, during the pandemic: Millennials were almost twice as
the survey continued to ask how many days they likely as Boomers to feel positive about their employer
would wish to continue working from home and the based on the technology and support that the
same tail off pattern occurred only this time with a employer provided to enable working from homexxx.
This shows the nature of Generation
Zers to work and thrive when working
in collaborative environments,
and organizations must take this
information into account when
planning. It could be due to the social
side of the different generations
need source
or it could be a training issue when
considering that younger workers felt
less successful and had limited access
to work items remotely. Their view of
working from home will improve only
through an improvement in technology
deployed at home to bridge these
gaps and improve the “feeling of
Source: Unisys Future of Work Survey, IDC, November 2020, Employee Respondents, N=558
connectedness” at home.
Source: Unisys Future of Work Survey, IDC, November 2020, Employee Respondents, N=558
14
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.So overall key trends when properly planned and
Trends in how work might implemented will be:
change 1. A much more mobile and remote workforce with
By 2028, 73 percent of all departments at the proper tools and infrastructure at home.
organizations will have remote workersxxxi. Today, Employees in the U.S. respondents say they have
millennials and Gen Z workers make up only 38 personally spent an average of US $348 to upgrade
percent of the workforce, but in 2028, they will amount or improve technology while working at home due
to 58 percentxxxii. Because of that, it is no wonder that to COVID-19 –$75 more than the global average
almost three-quarters of companies will employ some ($273), and the second highest among 10 markets
remote workers, while 33 percent of workers will be surveyedxl.
fully remote by 2028. At the current time, 16 percent 2. The ability to collaborate effectively – while most
of companies like Appen, a technology services are able to work in a collaborative way, according
company headquartered in Australia, exclusively hire to the world economic forum, almost one in five
remote workers. This is why Appen ranks first on the cite the ability to collaborate as one of their issues
Forbesxxxiii list of global top 100 companies with remote with working remotelyxli.
working. Others on the list include UnitedHealth
3. Technology that works seamlessly – more than
Group at number 11, Humana at number 15, Dell at
50 percent of employees surveyed said their
number 19, SAP at number 23, Amazon at number 24
employer needs to invest in better technology that
and the listxxxiv goes on with Philips, Hilton, Salesforce,
enables then to be more effectivexlii.
GitLab, Gartner, Wells Fargo, etc. According to Owl
Labsxxxv, 44 percent of global companies still do not 4. Automation that assists daily life – as we have
allow remote work, but 16 percent of them are actually heard, more than 80 percent of companies are
100 percent remote companies. accelerating automation in response to COVID-19
but this has to include cognitive, AI and NLP-based
Given the experience we have had working from
automationxliii.
home, it is clear it is here to stay. A survey by CBRExxxvi
shows that 69 percent of millennials would give 5. The ability to become more flexible and look after
up other work benefits for a more flexible working health – a significant number of people identified
space. This is one of several critical statistics as this by Forbes state that they place flexibility of work
impacts the employee value proposition, which means and their hours top of mind and over 40 percent
human resources departments need to think about said that their mental health has declined since
the offers companies make to new employees. This the pandemic startedxliv. The pre-pandemic norm
is an important point we will cover shortly. Health of standardization has given way to post pandemic
flexibility and agility.
and safety at the home office will still be
office issues!
The coronavirus pandemic reshaped tech priorities
BENEFITS AND ISSUES WITH
for 95 percentxxxvii of companies, but such is the A REMOTE WORKFORCE
speed of change. Nearly half (47 percent) have The benefits of having a remote workforce are fairly
frozen their IT budgets to steady the ship and plan easy to ascertain, when properly managed. Buffer’s
to spend based on required changes. Yet, four in ten state of remote work report, shown below, highlights
(41 percent) admit their remote working systems what we have already described and many already
may be in breach of data privacy regulationsxxxviii. know. The perception of having a flexible schedule
Almost half of IT leaders said they were increasing that can be managed from anywhere due to not having
spending on managing remote network operations to commute allows employees to have better work life
and increasing investments in the use of cloud-based balance from the comfort of their own homes, which
management platforms. Also, almost four in five are basically covers 97 percent of the graphic below. This
looking at accelerating automation in response to is the panacea, and for many, is the dream scenario.
coronavirusxxxix. But for many, including managers and workers, there
are issues that come from working at home.
15
An ISG Report. ISG Confidential © 2021 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.You can also read
