Embracing Technology for an Inclusive Workforce

Companies are investing in a wide range of technologies and services to support the current reality of work and the dynamic workforce. According to IDC, hardware will receive the most investment this year, including enterprise hardware, infrastructure as a service (IaaS), robots, and drones. In all industries, the pandemic has expedited digital transformation and changed workplace dynamics at small businesses. Since the epidemic started, 87 percent of small businesses have upgraded one or more pieces of digital equipment.

A survey found that the top technologies being adopted focused on people connecting with people as remote work has increased. Video communications technology ranked as the foremost commodity being purchased or upgraded, followed by internal communications platforms and customer relationship management technology. In total, 71 percent of the businesses who responded to the survey claimed they have changed how they interact with their audiences.

Another recent report from the virtual and hybrid event platform Glisser observed that organizations are finding it difficult to turn hybrid work arrangements from a concept into reality, recommending that modernizing technology is the solution. Regardless of where employees are working, hybrid working solutions must enable messaging, collaboration, staff unification, and engagement, which are difficult to achieve with a computer screen alone.

Businesses that wish to flourish in the hybrid model must address these problems, or they run the risk of losing their top employees to organisations that put a high priority on treating all employees fairly. Even if technology cannot solve all organisational culture problems, it can play a significant role in a more comprehensive strategy.

More businesses are responding to the call and ramping up their tech game, as the IDC forecast highlights. For instance, the San Francisco-based identity platform Okta recently released a new workplace experience app called Atmosphere to assist the business and its employees in adopting a FoW strategy it has named Dynamic Work, especially where it encourages employee connections.

Flexibility and the ability to adapt to whatever the world may throw at us next will be crucial as more sophisticated technical solutions will undoubtedly develop as remote and hybrid models become a more fixed way of working lives. We must adopt technology that fosters an inclusive workplace culture and environment in order for those who aren’t physically interacting in person to still be able to participate and achieve in their roles and on their teams in order for a flexible, fluid work model to genuinely succeed.