The office as we know it is constantly evolving - from densely packed desks to cubicle farms to informal, open plan spaces. Each of these changes have been matched by ongoing developments in technology, from communication and collaboration tools in the cloud, to seamless integration of mobile, to real-time processing and instant access to large amounts of data.
As a result, visions of the future office are top of mind for many business leaders. This includes the office space itself as well as the way people are working. As a leading new domain name for modern businesses, with more than 190,000 registrations, .Cloud is partnering with many companies that are changing their workspaces to accommodate the modern working world.
With the growth of companies offering flexible working policies and co-working spaces, it’s clear that we’re changing the way we work. But how is the time spent behind our desks reshaping the space around us?
Mou Mukherjee is the Head of Registry Services at .Cloud.
Personalising the employee experience
According to Jenny Tran, president of Fint.Cloud, it’s more of a personal experience, than something that’s affected by trends: “At Fint.Cloud, embracing the office of the future is not at all about staying ahead of the trends. Instead, it is about creating an environment that employees would like to work in.”
When it comes to the future of office software, we’re seeing an increased focus on bringing employees together in the office to create a collaborative working environment. Whether this is by meeting rooms or including recreational areas with sofas and ping-pong tables, for example, the focus is on bringing people together and fostering relationships.
It’s also important to ensure that the latest technologies deployed in a workplace support employees in enabling them to work efficiently together. With more and more employees equipped to work on the move, the design of the future office will have a strong emphasis on bridging the gap between home and more traditional workspaces.
This flexibility is largely enabled by evolving technology such as cloud services, which allows employees to work collaboratively no matter where they’re working from. One example is Fashion.Cloud, as Co-founder Rene Schnelle, Co-founder explains:
“As a platform aimed at strengthening the wholesale community, we believe in teamwork and mutual support - also in our own work. However, this does not mean that all employees have to sit in one place. With cloud-based solutions and tools, employees can collaborate and build relationships across borders.”
As workplace flexibility evolves, so too does your office space.
The future is flexible
Another factor to keep in mind is that as businesses and employees continue to favour remote software and flexible working, there won’t be a need to accommodate as many people in the office at once, so the physical size of the traditional office will become smaller.
Jenny Tran of Fint.Cloud says, “There are many people out there who would also appreciate not having to commute and having flexible working hours, so we also see a lot of people remotely - think of young mums and digital nomads.” We will see a more personalised employee experience taking shape, reflecting the emerging needs of younger generations to have greater control of their professional lives.
A focus on collaborating across office spaces is also priority for Fashion.Cloud. Rene Schnelle says, “We have teams working together from our two offices in Hamburg and Amsterdam but also remotely from Ukraine or Argentina. In addition, employees can work from home one day a week. This way, we create the optimal team and give our employees the freedom to live and work where they want.”
Once a familiar space, the office is undergoing extensive change as the digital revolution in the workplace continues. Creating a modern environment requires modern thinking in order to succeed. Now is the time for visionaries, business leaders, workplace architects and designers, to design the office of the future.
Mou Mukherjee is the Head of Registry Services at .Cloud.
