Digital disruption in the workplace
Digital disruption is increasingly becoming a driving growth strategy for businesses, leading to transformation of both customer relations, service delivery and back office processes. This enhances organisational agility, decision-making and innovations. Many businesses are following this trend by appointing Chief Digital Officers.
We are also seeing increased market competition for the best talent. More and more organisations are keen to transform into digital businesses and are beginning to compete with such giants as Google and Microsoft for top IT experts. Talented specialists, conscious of their strong position, frequently switch between sectors for the best employment opportunities. They are attracted to companies whose offices and business culture are aligned with their expectations. Nowadays, to become a truly digital organisation, it takes more than just modern technology, a whole new way of thinking about business processes is needed.
Businesses wanting to ensure a comfortable working environment take account of employee preferences and create working spaces that enhance internal collaboration and efficiency. An efficient space allocation rate is not the only factor. This trend is seen across all sectors, but differences of focus are also common, depending on the needs of an organisation and market. Most importantly, such changes do not require significantly larger expenses. Digital organisations with flexible working styles tend to be very efficient and avoid typical corporate arrangements such as allocation of offices according to seniority or assigned desks.
Provision of a compelling workplace experience in a good location is another important factor. An office should provide employees with choice over when, where and how they work, and should create non-traditional yet well-connected workspaces, supported by intuitive state-of-the-art technology. Central London offers over 900,000 sq m of co-working space and this trend is also appearing in Polish cities.
The principle of openness is also manifesting itself through the provision of co-working space within traditional businesses. Inviting start-ups and clients into formerly secretive enclosed spaces demonstrates a commitment to collaboration. In addition, relations with universities and science to accelerate innovations have become a key factor. Formation of knowledge clusters enables both corporates and SMEs to capitalise on openness and knowledge sharing.
Author: Maciej Markowski, Partner, Head of Workplace Strategy CEE, Global Occupier Services and Strategic Consulting, Cushman & Wakefield
