Since March 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic has been disrupting business operations, forcing companies to try new technologies and revised working models to stay up and running. As businesses start to see the results of these changes and it becomes ever clearer that a post-pandemic “normal” won’t be a return to traditional workplace practices, businesses of all sizes have begun to focus on what is now called a hybrid working model: those who choose to work in-office, those who are still working remotely and, much more commonly, those that blend the two.
With digitization accelerating, businesses are also considering how best to future-proof operations as the way we work evolves. Successfully implementing a hybrid working model and getting the most out of its advantages requires more than adding new software or forwarding a desk phone to a mobile line; it needs a tech roadmap that outlines what tools your teams will need to ensure future growth in an evolving work setting.
The future of work
Looking back to 2020, it’s difficult to fathom how much has changed since Covid forced millions of people into remote work and sparked office-weary employees to question whether they would ever need to go back to the office at all. In many cases, it turns out humans don’t do too well when they are confined to house arrest and forced to work from corners, cubbyholes, and kitchen tables for the good part of two years, and many of them have since come to value the face-to-face time with colleagues that can boost collaboration and creative thinking when their ingenuity has otherwise failed them.
But it is also true that the office has become antiquated, and the deep-set notions of how work should fit into our lives have changed radically. The business world did not grind to a halt when the places of work shuttered doors and sent employees home with a laptop and fistfuls of stationery. Many professional relationships did not fall into utter and irreparable disarray when everyone was forced to communicate with coworkers via video calls and instant messaging. Furthermore, relationships with work and colleagues were stress-tested to the extreme, but it also taught the majority that a better future at work is possible, provided employers are willing to take a leap of faith and commit themselves to change.
How hybrid work is changing IT operations
There are several ways that hybrid work has changed IT operations as organizations have had to support both on-premises and remote staff. The 2022 Future of Work report found that 73% of IT decision-makers have changed how they manage their IT teams due to hybrid work. The primary way that IT has responded is with the increased use of project management and collaboration tools. Twenty-one percent of respondents have also implemented daily check-in calls, while 14% have adjusted IT help desk hours to support users across different time zones.