Entertainment is one key area where innovations are notable. Mobile phones, streaming services and gambling sites, such as Casumo online casino, have brought a world of fun to our fingertips. Technology also reaches into our work lives and is rapidly changing our environments and what a work day looks like. Read on to find out about specific changes that are currently affecting the way we work.
Visualisation
Digital tools mean that we no longer need to be in the same room to share ideas and information. In the past, that was possible through presentations and static documents. Now, the capabilities of data visualisation mean that animation and interactive modelling can improve efficacy and speed up pitches and decision-making. Remote working and forming global partnerships are getting easier thanks to extended reality. Hardware, such as headsets, can give workers access to virtual or augmented environments that act as shared workspaces and cloud-based meeting spaces. Any industry that needs to work with 3D physical models can benefit the most. Digital visualisations known as digital twins are helping manage efficient workplaces. They can provide dashboards where managers can get an at-a-glance view of important performance metrics. Those could include energy consumption, stock monitoring, space usage or fleet management.
Collaboration
Remote working, home working and global partnerships have pushed tech innovators to solve collaboration issues. The digital tools extend far beyond video meeting spaces, though. Fortunately, that has been made possible by faster and more reliable broadband connections in offices and at home. Communication channels and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms have boomed in the last few years. Slack and Salesforce are two examples of companies that have been tailoring their products to what modern workplaces need to engage with clients and colleagues. All-in-one solutions are proving popular. Many companies are investing in software and services that can provide a team chat, helpdesk, collaborative working space, customer database and automated communication tools for marketing. It seems like a lot to ask, but competition and demand are driving companies to find answers to the new challenges we face.
Automation
Many of the tools that are solving our problems and making our work lives easier are streamlining tasks by removing the manual or human element. Helpdesks are run by chatbots, and helplines also use an automated system to get callers to the appropriate destination. The recent improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) are what’s driving the changes. Combined with the advances in robotics, we’re now seeing autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) take on tasks in all sorts of workplaces. They might handle cleaning, packaging or other manual tasks. Recent staff shortages have pushed companies to seek these solutions, but efficiency and cost are what will make them a permanent fixture. AI is also leading to automated processes in data handling. Since it’s much more sophisticated, it can now handle complex data. The result is better projections to help decision-making. It can also be used in security measures, such as threat detection. It’s also being applied to monitoring patterns or abnormal consumer behaviour to check for fraud.
A Need for New Boundaries
As well as using technology to make our lives more convenient, it’s also about making businesses more effective. However, these rapid changes can mean that other aspects of work or the workplace are no longer suitable. Technology also needs to be utilised to set healthy remote working boundaries. Instead of supporting presenteeism and making us reachable 24/7, technology should focus on what makes us truly effective: work-life balance. The term clocking-off is losing all meaning as many of us find it hard to demarcate our home and business lives. We should expect to see an increase in productivity tools with a difference. Simple sites like Pomofocus build in reminders for breaks. We could expect even more sophisticated platforms to recreate a virtual clocking-off.
Technological Advances That Are Better for All?
Technological innovations are only advances if they make things better for businesses and employees. Work culture shifts and a candidate-driven recruitment market are pushing companies to be different. They need to prove that they’re ethical and focused on the bigger picture, which includes employee well-being. As automation increases, so do productivity expectations. Our reliance on technology could easily lead us away from convenience. We might end up in a world where anxiety and performance pressure are rife. Successful companies will focus on using technology for more than just improving the bottom line. They’ll use it for training, social initiatives and to reward their employees fairly.
