‘The next mobile phone phenomenon is your meeting room’ - 1st part to Digital Workspaces & Hybrid Work-life

In our fast changing world, we see disruptions, convergence and the word hybrid being used for many of such instances.?

For example, a hybrid car, a hybrid cloud environment, a hybrid orchid flower and etc.?

And in the not-too-distant future, we probably have a 'hybrid work-life' triggered by the pandemic and driven by the wants of the millennial working generation where freedom to express is a second nature to them.?

Structured hybrid work

A recent TIME magazine article has coined a new model, 'Structured hybrid work '?which is a highly plausible scenario. This model takes hybrid work to a new level where there are specific days or timeslots for team members to come together for face-to-face meetings while retaining some degree of freedom for off-peak commuting and work-from-home concepts.

For example, sales personnel are generally mobile but they can all be in office on Monday for sales cadence meeting while retaining the flexibility for the remaining week. In another scenario, corporate administration personnel can be in office on a rotational basis to keep within the working capacity limit in office for social distancing.

As we can see, the Covid pandemic has sparked the discovery or the acceleration of digital transformation with new ways of working in office or remotely from home.?

From accessories to necessaries

Hardware and software tools such as unified communications and conferencing software were already available before the pandemic but their impact to work-life was always debatable as working from office was the dominant form back then.?In fact, these conferencing facilities were utilized only 10% to 15% of the time.

With social distancing being the norm now, such conferencing facilities are now in demand with much higher utilization rates. Clients are expecting overall aesthetics, reliability and intuitiveness of digital workspace as part of not just the boardroom but all the meeting rooms; key appointment holder rooms; and huddle spaces as well.

Meeting room’s next evolution

Our progression to working alongside technology is every day. Smart mobile phones began their domination in our lives over a decade ago. Video conferencing across our laptops will soon make its way into meeting rooms and become a regular phenomenon as workers return to office progressively in a calibrated fashion.

For example, a regional manager who used to travel to meet his team across several countries now hosts a meeting every week to get updates in a meeting room with collaboration facilities equipped with camera, display panels and interactive whiteboard. With this setup, he can now include his local staff in the same meeting room and conduct the regional virtual meeting to share market and product developments all at once.

So, the next time you step into your meeting room, get ready to see it evolve from plain Jane to high-tech Mary for your everyday meeting.

I am Mar Vin, Foo.

Thank you leading the conversation in your workplace;

And keep a lookout for the 2nd part to 'Digital Workspaces & Hybrid Work-life' series in the next couple of weeks.