Prior to COVID-19, most companies had already initiated their digital transformation, but the pandemic accelerated those programmes. Organisations that were in a rush to accommodate their employees, who were suddenly working online and mostly from home, invested heavily in cloud-based infrastructure, applications and comprehensive collaboration tools. These changes, made out of necessity, have accelerated cloud migrations.
What have we seen in the past week? Traffic jams, traffic jams, traffic jams, and then not in the cloud... While if you look at the news, you see people saying that they would like to continue working partly from home. So what is the truth? In this confusing period, the employees must first determine what they like best and the management must then find a suitable solution.
The trend towards cloud migrations and greater use of rich collaboration tools will continue beyond the pandemic, and organisations must be prepared for the changes in the digital workplace. Just as remote working during the pandemic meant more than people simply turning on their home computers, the transition to a hybrid workplace will mean more than a rough mix of people working in the office or remotely.
What we also see in practice is that in many companies the number of staff has grown considerably. And that is of course possible because everyone could work from home, but is there now enough office space for everyone? We see that large companies are already 25% short of office space.
Will we remain in the cloud or will we completely return to the old normal? These are questions to which society, politics and also the Enterprise Architect must respond in the coming period.
It is important that organisations reassess their cloud infrastructure and digital workplaces, including their collaborative app portfolios, in the context of newly defined or updated flexible working policies. This can ensure that employees have the tools they need to work effectively regardless of location.
The collaboration tools introduced by COVID-19 will not disappear, but continue to evolve as offices gradually open up and adopt a hybrid working environment. All these changes will have a dramatic impact on the digital workplace.
Does your organisation run into these problems? Then contact us so that we can guide you through this change.