Over the past few months, we faced a rapid change with eerie shades of times past. However, perhaps the change that we faced has served as a snapshot into the generational shift of our workforce, and an insight into how working in the future will look.
Despite dominating the workplace for over 20 years, there is a generational change afoot. It has been estimated that more than half of the global workforce are now millennial's, and the developments in revolutionary technology has provided us with a glimpse of how just how different the future workplace will look.
Because of this, it is important to understand where your organisation is heading and there are some significant trends that you may want to keep track of, the first of these being a completely mobile workforce.
The concept of the mobile workplace isn’t exactly new. Even before the Covid-19 lockdown, businesses have been embracing more mobile-friendly solutions that mean your employees can have an alternative way to go about their workday. Some businesses may have even found that working from home was preferable in comparison to their daily commute to the office.
In fact, throughout the lockdown many people were able to communicate, collaborate and execute their tasks without experiencing much of difference at all due to collaboration apps such as Zoom or Slack. The only difference being they miss out on their overpriced corner shop coffee.
Furthermore, these apps have proven themselves and were able to get a proper test of their mettle during such times.
It's safe to say that such apps and technologies will only continue to improve and become more crucial to business operations, enabling the workforce to chat and work together as if they were right next to each other.
Another snapshot that has made itself present is that of cloud computing. Although it is again not a new concept, it is clear that the ease and mobility of cloud computing is attractive to many businesses.
The security of having your business data backed up and available to you anywhere with an internet connection provides peace of mind. It often entails automatic updates and can be backed up on several servers at one time, ensuring you're never caught unaware.
The Cloud has proven to be essential for communication and content sharing over the past few months, and such practices will only further be mass implemented in businesses in the near future. We’ll almost certainly see a range of major tech companies start to provide single-application, cloud-based solutions that provide all of these functions to businesses in a uniform package.
This can already be seen in the likes of the Adobe Creative Cloud, Microsoft, and Google.
As the workplace continues to change and develop, so to will companies have to change the way they approach cyber security.
Previously, a business would have the advantage of the controlled office environment. They would have the final say on what devices get used and provide these devices to their employees.
However, employees are increasingly choosing their own devices, especially when working remotely. This can be a challenge for employers to counter, especially when employees have remote access to their business servers, operations and data.
While it can be difficult to combat, ensuring all staff are educated in security awareness, have quality anti-virus software installed and exercise good computing habits can prevent disaster. These practices are even useful when it comes to employees using public Wi-Fi networks. This can be further secured provided the employees devices used for work are encrypted to protect crucial company and personal data.
When it comes to future proofing your business, there is a lot to consider, and quite frankly it can be overwhelming.
If you want to talk to an IT and Support service that can provide your business with secure cloud computing and cyber security services, contact the team at ACS and talk to one of our Techsperts today.