The digital age is upon us: 2020 has thrown up some unexpected challenges in many different sectors, starting with remote working.
Technology has become critical not only to the survival of these industries, but also to their future prosperity. In a year that could have seen limited progress, in several cases we witnessed the exact opposite, especially due to the smartworking boom. Here are six predictions for the digital world in 2021, with a special look at remote working.
Girl power even among programmers
Anna Brailsford, CEO of Code First Girls : “Today women are a minority in information technology, but this is changing. In 2021, companies globally will seize the opportunity to reshape the way they work and strive for gender equality in the workplace. By empowering women to improve their technology skills, companies across all industries can establish a work culture that will improve the status of both women and companies.
Forward-thinking companies will look to their existing employees and provide opportunities to support upskilling and personal growth. Whether in person or remotely, companies can partner with dedicated organizations to create bespoke training sessions, providing participants with new skills and perspectives. The predictions for 2021? Companies that take the initiative to educate and improve the skills of female staff will win.”
After the introduction of remote working, its refinement
Joshua Zerkel, Head of Marketing for Global Engagement, Asana : “When the world faced remote work in March 2020, business leaders did what they had to do. They gave employees the tools to survive in a fully remote environment. But now there is a danger of fueling app overload. Our data shows that company employees use 10 apps for remote work, switching between them about 25 times a day. This has consequences. 27% of workers lose messages and 25% end up duplicating work.
The predictions for 2021? many of these tools, such as Asana, Zoom and Slack will remain in place to support workers in distributed work. But ensuring employees know the purpose of each app they're using, and how they're using it, is critical to keeping teams aligned and avoiding duplication of work in 2021."
Increasing appetite for content
Tanzil Bukhari, CEO EMEA, DoubleVerify : “Content consumption has skyrocketed during the pandemic. Our recent research study, “Four fundamental changes in media and advertising in 2020“, revealed that people have doubled the amount of time they spend each day consuming content, from 3 hours and 17 minutes to an average of 6 hours and 59 minutes. Social media platforms such as TikTok.
The predictions for 2021? This behavior will not slow down, even after the pandemic passes. And this is a significant opportunity for advertisers to capitalize on consumers' appetite for content.”
Digital Headquarters
Stuart Templeton, UK CEO of Slack : “In recent months the word 'work' has been completely redefined. The traditional “8 to 16” division of labor has completely collapsed. There have also been benefits in the shift to remote working, so it's no surprise that our recent Future Forum survey found that less than 12% of knowledge workers want to return to full-time office work.
The predictions for 2021? A strong shift towards the hybrid work. Precisely 2021 will be the year that companies will need to create their "digital headquarters". Places that keep the culture of a brand alive, and will house discussions and documents to have teams that are always connected and productive."
Network as a service
John Morrison, SVP of International Markets, Extreme Networks : “With the pandemic and the rise of remote working, organizations will focus even more on their networks in 2021. After all, they are the lifeblood of an organization, especially in uncertain times. One of the key challenges for many businesses next year will be the need for their network infrastructure to continue to deliver optimal performance despite the fallout from the global pandemic and resulting recession.
Network-as-a-service will emerge as a key trend in enterprise networking because it provides businesses with a cost-conscious solution. It also gives businesses the flexibility to expand or shrink network services on demand depending on business needs, without sacrificing performance. The predictions for 2021? It will be the year that many companies begin to abandon investments in physical network infrastructure and commit to the network-as-a-service model.”
Solutions outside the box
Sergei Anikin, CTO, Pipedrive : “The past year has been catalytic in helping even the most conservative industries embrace technology. The onset of the pandemic brought traditional ways of working to a grinding halt, and this trend is set to continue into the new year and beyond. The demand for innovative solutions has increased, and is expected to reach even higher levels in 2021. This is giving industries the motivation to invest in digitalization and automation.
A virtuous circle will form: with increased demand comes a greater willingness to use online services and a better understanding of the usefulness of digitalisation, which in turn increases trust in the technology and drives its diffusion across all sectors.
The predictions for 2021? I foresee even more streamlined and effective solutions. In 2021, we can expect to see out-of-the-box solutions that aim to solve any professional challenge.”
