Your father’s office is long gone. Rest in peace. With dramatic technological advancements, and what has become a flood of Millennials into the workplace, the office, once a straight-up-and-down place of cubicles, telephones and fax machines, has become a fluid, flexible and super-connected place, where people exchange ideas either inside the physical walls or “out there somewhere.”
The word “work” is no longer tied to a place; rather, it is something that can be completed anywhere, at any time of the day or night. Much of this movement to true mobility is driven by the demands and expectations of the next generation.
While it is true that Millennials (and perhaps fresh-thinking Gen Xers) are not the only ones pushing the new, it is largely their influence that has pushed the idea of the super-connected office from nice-to-have into must-have territory. A huge part of the super-connected, Millennial-approved office involves unified communications, or UC.
Companies can benefit from UC
UC can benefit companies in many key areas, including:
- Collaboration: tools like web conferencing and document sharing empower employees, facilitate teamwork and collaboration, and can lead to increased employee engagement level and morale
- Telephony: potentially lower call costs by shifting to chat and a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) service
- Video: access to video conferencing can enrich company culture and reduce travel-related expenses; many experts think video will replace voice as the go-to means of communication
Connected from birth
Members of Generation X may have been the first generation to embrace technology in their everyday lives, using smartphones, personal computers and e-readers, but Millennials were the first to have been connected from the moment they were born.
While Baby Boomers and Xers saw the office in roughly the same way, Millennials expect to see the freedom and flexibility of connected mobility to be baked into their singular concept of “the office.” The absence of these elements makes work a near-impossibility; even if they do end up working for an “old school” office, they will quickly end up taking their talents elsewhere, to a company that offers them what they want and need.
Companies today are facing a two-tiered challenge when it comes to technology and talent — first, they must attract top talent, and second, they must keep that talent satisfied and enabled through the right combination of new technology.
Securing and keeping top Millennial talent from leaving for greener pastures is no small task, and for the most part it comes down to how committed a company is to technology, and how strong is its spirit of curiosity and innovation. Perhaps the biggest part of this equation is in UC, which may well revolutionize the way companies do business like nothing before it.
Webinar: “Unified Communications (UC) – Driving a Culture of Collaboration”
Starting at 1 pm ET on June 21, 2017, IT World Canada CIO Jim Love, McDermott Management Partner Mike McDermott, and IDC Canada’s Research VP, Communications, Lawrence Surtees will present the very latest insights and research about unified communications as well as a customer success story from Telus.
Find out more about the webinar on this page.
