Management

The Office Of The Future

Like everything else, companies are becoming more mobile and interconnected—leaving office designers struggling to keep up. People have more freedom than ever before to choose where, when and how they work, and the constraining nature of the traditional office isn't a good fit for today's mobile work style. Innovative offices aren't just found in the tech sector; they're found in a variety of industries. Here, we'll take a look at the office of the future and what it may look like.

office-of-the-future

Greater Mobility

Workers of the past were basically tied to their desks, but the office of the future won't have that type of restriction. Today's futuristic offices have cafes, break rooms and/or coffee shops with Wi-Fi capability, and employees can work wherever they are, whenever they want. It's estimated that about 30% of modern offices have such non-traditional working arrangements, and their primary goal is to provide employees with settings that foster creativity and fit with their work styles.

Workers like you won't be able to hide in their cubicles anymore. If you shiver at the thought of someone seeing what you're watching online, you may not like the setup of the office of the future. Offices are starting to look more like the floor at a stock exchange, with individual workstations being replaced by larger, more communal spaces. Such arrangements allow workers to maximize the hours they do spend in the office.

More Collaboration

The office technology of tomorrow will encourage employees to work together to achieve a common goal. If you hate sitting through those mind-numbingly boring PowerPoint presentations every week, this technology is for you. Workers will be able to sit around one of those communal worktables, turn on their laptop or tablet and share ideas or information with the entire group. Many of today's companies are eschewing the old conference room in favour of an open-air lounge or meeting space, and are also using online document storage services to cut down on clutter and make collaboration easier.

Meetings and conferences will be held in a variety of settings, and co-workers or clients will be able to see and hear what's going on, whether they're in another room or halfway around the world. Today's video and audio conferencing equipment usually needs to be set up in just the right way to be effective, but not too long from now, workers will be able to hold conferences from anywhere—on any device. Thanks to video chat applications, a tablet or other handheld device can be used as a conferencing tool; the office of tomorrow won't need those clunky, invasive power strips, so teleconferencing will be easier than ever.

The Popularity of Touch Screens

Touch screens aren't just for playing Angry Birds—they're an invaluable tool for getting work done. Previously seen only in science fiction movies, interactive display technology will be used on walls and tables in the office. With technology like this, workers will be able to sit together as a group and write down those great ideas with their digital pens—while they're still fresh in mind.

Crispin loves technology and believes that todays technology has changed our work strategys for the better. When Crispin isn’t reading and writing about technology he works at Whitefields.

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