If there is one takeaway from this pandemic for IT experts in all industries, it is that firms need to be read for a change. As the company landscape evolves and workplace culture trends move, systems, processes, technology, and internal dynamics must adapt.
Companies should consider how their infrastructure will foster collaboration, flexibility, and automation in a virtual or hybrid workplace as the push toward a remote working model continues.
It is crucial to adopt the right IT culture trends that will assist the team in the long run rather than those that will become obsolete in the post-COVID environment. Here are some of the fading IT culture patterns that organizations should abandon, as well as a few developing, forward-thinking ideas to replace them with.
Also Read: 3 Strategies for Overcoming Change Fatigue in the Digital Realm
According to a 2020 FlexJobs survey, “FlexJobs, Mental Health America Survey: Mental Health in the Workplace” 37% of employees have worked more hours since the pandemic began, and 40% have experienced a spike in burnout. Employees are also three times more likely than before COVID to have poor mental health outcomes. This is due in large part to the “always-on” work culture that many businesses reinforced in 2020.
It’s difficult to unplug from the job when there’s no physical separation between home and office, and the pressure to check notifications or respond to emails can last well into the night. However, because this frequently increases stress levels, leaders should abandon the “always-on” expectation and establish boundaries, such as no email responses after hours or on weekends unless businesses are specifically assigned to be “on-call.” As remote IT teams increasingly become the new normal, maintaining work-life balance is essential to sustain productivity and reduce the effects of burnout.
Whether the IT team is remote, hybrid, or in the office, all of the pivots of 2020 demonstrated the need for digital transformation for businesses. However, it’s also critical to have the correct tech stack in place – one that’s simple, centralized, and efficient, rather than dispersed and complicated. According to Adobe Workfront’s State of Work 2021 research, 32% of employees have left a job because of insufficient technology that hampered their workflow, and another 49% are likely to leave if the tech stack is irritating or difficult to use.
For best efficiency, IT leaders need to scale down their technology in order to consolidate tools and software applications. Employees don’t want to spend a substantial portion of their workday hunting for dispersed information across many platforms, thus less is frequently more in this scenario. This is not just a waste of time, but it can also lead to security vulnerabilities.
While businesses are debating the benefits of a centralized IT stack, they can consider this newest trend in IT: the cloud-based workspace. This digital hub, which is part of a technology solution called Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), is hosted in the cloud and easily accessible from anywhere with an internet connection. Since workers can access it via a wireless device, a cloud-based workspace reduces the need for complex hardware or infrastructure.
Also Read: Enterprises Struggle with Cloud Cost Management amid Accelerated Digital Transformation
The dashboard of the interface keeps all files, tasks, messages, calendar events, and other content in one safe, customized hub that all team members can access. IaaS will most likely become a vital application for IT teams long beyond 2021, owing to its convenience and efficiency in streamlining workflow.
Artificial intelligence and machine learning are not new concepts, but augmented intelligence, a new trend in human-AI collaboration, has emerged this year. This method combines an AI machine’s rapid, accurate, and rational processes with a human employee’s intuitive, emotional, and culturally sensitive features.
Many workers previously believed that AI advancements would force them out of their existing jobs, but this partnership will combine the capabilities of smart machinery and human brainpower to maximize information processing, decision-making, and overall productivity.
As a result, future IT teams will almost certainly be made up of both human and non-human colleagues who collaborate to deliver precise, high-quality results.
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Umme Sutarwala is a Global News Correspondent with OnDot Media. She is a media graduate with 2+ years of experience in content creation and management. Previously, she has worked with MNCs in the E-commerce and Finance domain
